Brian Kernighan
Born 1942 · Age 83
Canadian computer scientist; Bell Labs Unix contributor; coauthor of The C Programming Language; co-creator of AWK and AMPL; Princeton CS professor since 2000; author of many programming books.
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Life & Career Timeline
Entered University of Toronto
Began undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto (engineering physics).
Bachelor's degree (Engineering Physics)
Earned BASc in engineering physics from the University of Toronto (attended 1960–1964).
Joined Bell Labs (approx.)
Began long career at Bell Labs where he worked with Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie on Unix and Unix tools.
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Princeton)
Received Ph.D. from Princeton; thesis: 'Some graph partitioning problems related to program segmentation' under advisor Peter G. Weiner.
Published doctoral dissertation
PhD thesis on graph partitioning problems related to program segmentation (Princeton University).
Contributed to early Unix development
Worked alongside Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie contributing to the development and popularization of Unix and its philosophy.
Coined the term 'Unix' (at Bell Labs, early era)
Credited with coining the name 'Unix' and helping popularize Unix philosophy (date within early Unix era).
Kernighan–Lin algorithm (collaboration with Shen Lin)
Collaborated with Shen Lin on heuristics for graph partitioning; algorithm widely known as the Kernighan–Lin algorithm (early Unix/research era).
First documented 'Hello, world!' example (B)
Described memory management in strings using 'hello' and 'world' in Kernighan's 'A Tutorial Introduction to the Language B'—the earliest documented 'Hello, world!'.
Coauthored work leading to Lin–Kernighan heuristic
Collaboration with Shen Lin produced heuristics related to the travelling salesman problem later known as Lin–Kernighan heuristic.
Authored ditroff
Wrote ditroff ('device independent troff'), enabling troff to be used with many devices.
Created eqn typesetting language (with Lorinda Cherry)
Co-developed eqn, a typesetting language for troff, with Lorinda Cherry.
Published The Elements of Programming Style (1st ed.)
Coauthored influential programming style book with P. J. Plauger (first edition 1974).
Released Ratfor and Software Tools
Released Ratfor (rational FORTRAN) and the Software Tools book/collection (with P. J. Plauger); Ratfor put in public domain.
Software editor for Prentice Hall (approx.)
Served as software editor for Prentice Hall International; edited and promoted the 'Software Tools' series.
Created m4 macro processor (with Dennis Ritchie)
Coauthored the m4 macro processing language with Dennis Ritchie.
Co-created AWK (with Aho & Weinberger)
Coauthored the AWK programming language with Alfred Aho and Peter J. Weinberger (1977).
Published The C Programming Language (1st ed., with Dennis Ritchie)
Coauthored the first book on C with Dennis Ritchie; the book became widely known as 'K&R'.
Implemented 'hello, world!' example (C era implementation)
Authored a 1978 implementation of the iconic 'hello, world!' program; that original implementation was later sold at The Algorithm Auction.
Coined WYSIAYG phrase
Coined the expression 'What You See Is All You Get' (WYSIAYG), a sarcastic variant of WYSIWYG, commenting on information loss.
Published 'Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language' (AT&T report)
Authored a widely-read critique of Pascal (AT&T Computing Science Technical Report #100).
Published The Unix Programming Environment (with Rob Pike)
Coauthored an influential tutorial/book on Unix with Rob Pike (1984).
Released AMPL
Co-created the AMPL modeling language for mathematical programming (AMPL release cited 1985).
Authored pic typesetting language
Developed the pic typesetting language for troff (cited 1988).
Published second edition of The C Programming Language and The AWK Programming Language (book)
Second edition of K&R C and the AWK Programming Language (with Aho & Weinberger) published in 1988.
Holds patents (five cited in bio)
Stony Brook bio notes he holds five patents related to his work (date range unspecified).
Taught CS50 (Harvard introductory course) as visiting instructor
Taught CS50 in 1996; influenced David J. Malan who later scaled the course widely.
Published The Practice of Programming (with Rob Pike)
Coauthored a practical programming book with Rob Pike (1999).
Director of Undergraduate Studies (Princeton, ongoing)
Serves as director of undergraduate studies in Princeton's CS department (position noted as current).
Joined Princeton University faculty
Appointed professor of computer science at Princeton University (has been a professor since 2000).
Elected to National Academy of Engineering
Elected a member of the NAE for contributions to software and programming languages.
Published AMPL: A Modeling Language for Mathematical Programming (2nd ed.)
Coauthored 2nd edition of AMPL book with Robert Fourer and David Gay.
Influenced CS50 and David J. Malan
Recognized as an influence on David J. Malan; his 1996 teaching of CS50 helped shape the course's later expansion.
Published D is for Digital
Published 'D is for Digital: What a well-informed person should know about computers and communications', based on his COS 109 course.
Spoke at tribute to Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs
Spoke at a memorial/tribute to Dennis Ritchie highlighting their work and Ritchie's contributions.
Original 1978 'hello, world!' implementation sold at Algorithm Auction
Kernighan's original 1978 implementation of 'hello, world!' was sold at The Algorithm Auction (the world's first auction of computer algorithms). Auction year not specified in source; year here is an approximate placement for the auction event.
Coauthored The Go Programming Language
Coauthored 'The Go Programming Language' with Alan Donovan (2015).
Published Understanding the Digital World
Authored 'Understanding the Digital World: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy, and Security' (2017).
Published Millions, Billions, Zillions
Published 'Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers' (2018).
Continued public commentary on privacy and technology
Publicly commented on internet privacy and technology; authorship and courses address privacy concerns (e.g., D is for Digital and COS 109).
Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Published UNIX: A History and a Memoir
Published a historical account and memoir of Unix development based on his experiences at Bell Labs.
Ongoing teaching of COS 109 (Computers in Our World)
Regularly teaches COS 109 each fall at Princeton, an introductory computing course for non-majors.
Working on AWK improvements
Stated he was actively working on improvements to the AWK programming language (which he helped create in 1977).
Coauthored updated edition of The AWK Programming Language
AWK Programming Language book listed with a 2023 edition (coauthored with Aho & Weinberger).
Ongoing emeritus/active roles and public speaking
Continues as active Princeton professor, public speaker, and contributor to programming language tooling and education.
Presented at Vintage Computer Festival East
Presented at Vintage Computer Festival East (image caption indicates participation April 2025).
Key Achievement Ages
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