I’m thankful for Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak and the personal computer
It’s hard to say who was most responsible for ushering in the personal computer age, but Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak all played a major role. All three created products and companies that spawned countless businesses and products that dominate our world today. While I am not a big fan of Jobs, I have to admit that he led not one but two revolutions—the personal computer and the smartphone. Thank you, gentlemen.
I’m thankful for Tim Berners-Lee and HTTP/S
I don’t think many people realize how profoundly simple the World Wide Web is. One computer says “Hey, I have a text request” and another computer responds “Okay, here’s some text back.” Sure, that is an oversimplification, but not by much. HTTP is the foundation of 95% of what happens on the internet, and I’m grateful for everything that it has enabled from its humble beginnings. Thank you, Professor Berners-Lee.
I’m thankful for object-oriented programming
I’ll never forget the moment when things clicked in my brain and I finally understood the concept of object-oriented programming (OOP). It was fantastic. OOP has come under fire a bit in recent years, but it is the foundation for pretty much everything we do in code these days. It’s a beautiful model for thinking about and designing software. Thank you, Ole-Johan Dahl, Kristen Nygaard, Alan Kay, and many others.
