Ken Thompson
American computer science pioneer, co-creator of Unix, B language, UTF-8, and Go; Turing Award winner
US Themes
Kenneth Lane Thompson ni umuhanga mu bya mudasobwa wo muri Amerika, azwi cyane kubera gufatanya na bagenzi be kurema sisitemu y’imikorere ya Unix muri Bell Laboratories mu mpera z’imyaka ya za 1960, ibyo byagize uruhare rukomeye mu buryo buhindura burundu ibijyanye n’imikoreshereze ya mudasobwa igezweho. Yanashizeho ururimi rwa porogaramu B, rwayibanjirije mu buryo butaziguye C, kandi yagize uruhare mu iterambere rya Plan 9, urwego rw’imyandikire ya UTF-8, ndetse n’ururimi rwa porogaramu Go.
Uretse sisitemu y’imikorere n’indimi, Thompson yatanze umusanzu uzwi mu bijyanye na regular expressions, abanditsi b’imbere y’igihe nka QED na ed, no mu mukino wa chess kuri mudasobwa, harimo imashini ya Belle chess n’udutabo two mu byiciro by’imikino ya nyuma (endgame tablebases). Yahawe igihembo cya Turing mu 1983, ahabwa hamwe na Dennis Ritchie, mu rwego rwo kumushimira uruhare rwe mu bitekerezo no mu bikorwa byerekeye imiterere ya sisitemu y’imikorere. Kugeza ubu akorera muri Google.
Ubuzima bwa Mbere n’Uburezi
Bell Laboratories n’Igihe cya Unix
Thompson yinjiye muri Bell Laboratories i Murray Hill, muri New Jersey, aho yabanje kwitabira umushinga wa Multics — ubufatanye hagati ya Bell Labs, MIT, na General Electric bugamije guteza imbere urwego rushya rw’imikorere y’imikorere (operating system). Igihe Bell Labs yavuye mu mushinga wa Multics, Thompson na mugenzi we Dennis Ritchie bakomeje gukora bonyine, amaherezo bakabyara ikintu cyarushijeho kurenza ibyo Multics yari igamije. Icyabaye ni Unix mu 1969, sisitemu y’imikorere ya mbere ishobora kwimurirwa ku buryo butandukanye (portable), yagenewe gukora ku bikoresho bitandukanye kuva kuri mainframes kugeza kuri mudasobwa bwite.
Ikintu cy’ingenzi muri Unix ni uko Thompson yatekereje imiterere y’imiyoboro y’amadosiye (hierarchical file system), yashyizeho urufatiro rw’ibidukikije byo guhuriza hamwe mu kwandika porogaramu. Unix yoherezwaga ifite code yayo y’inkomoko iboneka ku mugaragaro, bigatuma ihinduka ikurikije umusanzu w’abakoresha benshi. Ingaruka zayo zageze kure ya Bell Labs, zigira uruhare mu bidukikije by’ubumenyi bw’amasomo (academic computing), mu bikorwa by’imashini zakira internet (internet server infrastructure), ndetse amaherezo ziteza n’inkunga yo kurema sisitemu y’imikorere ya Linux.
Mu kwandika Unix, Thompson yabanje kugerageza Fortran na BCPL mbere yo gukora ururimi rwe bwite, B, rwakomotse kuri BCPL. B ni rwo rwatangiraga rwegereye C, Ritchie yateje imbere ashingiye ku gishushanyo cya Thompson. Uru rurimi rukomoka ni rumwe mu mirongo y’ingenzi cyane mu mateka y’ubumenyi bwa mudasobwa.
Chess, Plan 9, n’Imishinga Yakurikiyeho
Usibye imirimo ye kuri sisitemu y’imikorere, Thompson yagaragaje inyota ihoraho yo gukina chess kuri mudasobwa. Yafatanyije na bagenzi be gukora Belle, imashini yihariye ya chess yatsinze Irushanwa rya Gatatu ry’Isi rya Chess ya Mudasobwa ryabereye i Linz mu 1980. Umusanzu we mu kubara chess nawo wagiye no mu byitwa endgame tablebases, biha isesengura ryuzuye ry’imyanya ya chess ifite umubare muto w’amakari, kandi bigira uruhare mu buryo imashini n’abantu babona inyigisho z’imikino yo kurangiza (endgame theory).
Nyuma mu gihe yari akiri muri Bell Labs, Thompson yatanze umusanzu kuri Plan 9 iva muri Bell Labs, sisitemu y’imikorere ikwirakwizwa (distributed operating system) yongereye ibitekerezo bya Unix kandi ikabasha gufata ibikoresho byose bya sisitemu, harimo imiyoboro (networks) n’amadirishya (windows), nk’amadosiye. Yagize kandi uruhare mu guteza imbere UTF-8, urwego ngenderwaho rwo kwerekana inyuguti (character encoding) rwaje kuba uburyo bukunze gukoreshwa mu kwerekana inyandiko ku mbuga za interineti.
Nyuma yo kuva muri Bell Labs, Thompson yabonye fellowship muri Entrisphere mbere yo kwinjira muri Google nk’Umuyobozi w’Injeniyeri (Distinguished Engineer). Muri Google, yari mu itsinda rito ryashushanyije ururimi rwa porogaramu Go, ururimi rw’inkomoko iboneka (open-source) rugamije gukemura ibibazo bifatika mu iterambere rya porogaramu ku rwego runini.
Ukwemezwa n’Umurage
Ukwemezwa kwa Thompson mu mwuga we kwanyuze mu bihembo byinshi bikomeye mu kubara (computing). We na Dennis Ritchie bahuriye hamwe mu kwakira ACM Programming Systems and Languages Paper Award mu 1975 na ACM A.M. Turing Award mu 1983. Thompson kandi yiswe Fellow of the Computer History Museum mu 1997, yemerewe by’umwihariko uruhare rwe mu kurema Unix. Byongeye kandi, yahawe IEEE Computer Society’s Tsutomu Kanai Award kubera umusanzu we mu sisitemu yo kubara ikwirakwizwa (distributed computing systems).
Mu buzima bwe bwose bw’umwuga, imirimo ya Thompson yagaragayeho kwibanda gihoraho ku sisitemu zishobora kwimurwa (portable), zifunguye (open), kandi zifite akamaro mu bikorwa — ayo niyo mico yatumye Unix n’abayikomokaho bimara igihe kirekire. Umusanzu we mu sisitemu y’imikorere, mu ndimi za porogaramu, mu kwerekana inyandiko, no mu ibarurishamibare ry’imikino ya mudasobwa (computational game theory) hamwe byerekana umurimo wose wagiye ugira uruhare mu buryo mudasobwa zikorwa kandi zikoreshwa ku rwego rw’ingenzi.