I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter

Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

-- 
Ben.

Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> writes:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter

I'm so sorry to hear that.  His contributions here will be missed.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Nokia
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

In article <0.d20c31914cbb29a32d5e.20100105233853GMT.87bph82kc2.fsf@bsb.me.uk>,
Ben Bacarisse  <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> wrote:
>I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.

I'm sorry to hear that.  Thanks for letting us know.

-- Richard
-- 
Please remember to mention me / in tapes you leave behind.

On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:38:53 +0000, Ben Bacarisse
<ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> wrote:

>I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
>http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
>Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
>My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

I'm sorry to hear it.  He has been a long time contributor and a
very valuable one.


Richard Harter, cri@tiac.net
http://home.tiac.net/~cri, http://www.varinoma.com
Infinity is one of those things that keep philosophers busy when they 
could be more profitably spending their time weeding their garden.

Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
> 
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

That's a real shame. I didn't know him, but his contributions were 
valuable and I'm sure he had earned a long and happy retirement.

To make this vaguely topical, it's a loss to the C development community 
for the advice he could have contributed.
-- 
Flash Gordon

Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
> 
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.

This is very sad news indeed. Dik has been posting to this group 
throughout the decade or so that I've been a subscriber, and undoubtedly 
for many years before that, and over that time he has been a valuable 
contributor, helping thousands to deepen their understanding of C 
programming. I am sure I am only one of a great many people in this 
group who extend their condolences to his family.

-- 
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line vacant - apply within

On 2010-01-06, Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> In article <0.d20c31914cbb29a32d5e.20100105233853GMT.87bph82kc2.fsf@bsb.me.uk>,
> Ben Bacarisse  <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> wrote:
>>I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>>December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.

> I'm sorry to hear that.  Thanks for letting us know.

Seconded.

-s
-- 
Copyright 2010, all wrongs reversed.  Peter Seebach / usenet-nospam@seebs.net
http://www.seebs.net/log/ <-- lawsuits, religion, and funny pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology) <-- get educated!

Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> writes:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

Thanks for passing that on. I always enjoyed Dik's posts as so 
many had a numeric bent, which is my field of greatest interest.
In other newsgroups, he was one of a tiny handful of posters to 
whom I gave a positive score, so that I could zip straight to 
interesting posts. A grave loss to this and several other groups
and communities.

Phil
-- 
Any true emperor never needs to wear clothes. -- Devany on r.a.s.f1

"Ben Bacarisse" <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> wrote in message 
news:0.d20c31914cbb29a32d5e.20100105233853GMT.87bph82kc2.fsf@bsb.me.uk...
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

I am sorry to hear that. He'll be greatly missed.

Dennis 

On 1/5/2010 5:38 PM, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>
Dik was een goed persoon, goed ge�nformeerde met C, pati�nt in het 
onderwijs, en strikte contra-voorbeeld voor mijn stelling dat alle 
Hollanders op het internet zijn klootzakken.
-- 
frank

In article 
<0.d20c31914cbb29a32d5e.20100105233853GMT.87bph82kc2.fsf@bsb.me.uk>, 
ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk says...
> 
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
> 
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

Sad news.  He was certainly one of my favorite posters to read.
His mathematical insight was wonderful, and his numerical experience 
without par among those that post here.

Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
> 
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
> 

Damn!!! Dik has posted on Usenet for at least the last twenty 
years, and certainly has added to the useful and interesting 
content.  While I *never* knew Dik personally, my life has been 
diminished by his passing. He was a "straight up" kind of guy and 
there are *not* many like that on Usenet.

In the early 90's, I posted a question about calculating the value 
of pi, and Dik posted the following program. (I do *not* know if 
he originated it, but I found it interesting.) You can compile and 
run it:


int 
a=10000,b,c=2800,d,e,f[2801],g;main(){for(;b-c;)f[b++]=a/5;for(;d=0,g=c*2;c
-=14,printf("%.4d",e+d/a),e=d%a)for(b=c;d+=f[b]*a,f[b]=d%--g,d/=g--,--b;d*=b);}

-- 
+----------------------------------------+
|     Charles and Francis Richmond       |
|                                        |
|  plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com   |
+----------------------------------------+

On 5 Jan, 23:38, Ben Bacarisse <ben.use...@bsb.me.uk> wrote:

> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

also sorry to here this. Whenever there was a discussion about
numerical maths I'd perk up my (metaphorical) ears when I saw Dik
Winter was posting "aha! now we'll find out what the real answer is!".
He seems to have programmed some odd machines in his time! And seen
the wierdest floating point formats. And he appeared to know an awful
lot about Algols.

Oh, and he was nice to people!

On Jan 6, 7:38=A0am, Ben Bacarisse <ben.use...@bsb.me.uk> wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.http://www.cwi.n=
l/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>
> --
> Ben.

I am sorry, although I don't know who he is.

John Cui

Flash Gordon <smap@spam.causeway.com> writes:

> Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
>> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>> 
>> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
>> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>
> That's a real shame. I didn't know him, but his contributions were 
> valuable and I'm sure he had earned a long and happy retirement.
>
> To make this vaguely topical, it's a loss to the C development community 
> for the advice he could have contributed.

Absolutely amazing.

"To make this topical"

How very, very sad of you.

It's not enough that Dik was a shining beacon to common sense,
intelligence and those that needed help in C and math? As well as him
being friendly and encouraging?

"To make this topical"

I am sure Dik is looking down suppressing a wry smile.
-- 
"Avoid hyperbole at all costs, its the most destructive argument on
the planet" - Mark McIntyre in comp.lang.c

Nick Keighley wrote:
> On 5 Jan, 23:38, Ben Bacarisse <ben.use...@bsb.me.uk> wrote:
> 
>> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>>
>> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
>> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
> 
> also sorry to here this. Whenever there was a discussion about
> numerical maths I'd perk up my (metaphorical) ears when I saw Dik
> Winter was posting "aha! now we'll find out what the real answer is!".
> He seems to have programmed some odd machines in his time! And seen
> the wierdest floating point formats. And he appeared to know an awful
> lot about Algols.
> 
> Oh, and he was nice to people!

Yes, and the best memorial to him would be if some of the experts round 
here learnt that from him.  Correcting people does not have to be 
aggressive and confrontational. Dik was in the band of experts who 
understood that.

Ben Bacarisse wrote:

> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.

Sad news. We lost someone who loved his craft and was good at it.
He last posted here on 21 Dec. Dik will be missed.

Walter..

Ben Bacarisse ha scritto:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died

sad nws indeed.

i remember especially the humour and technical precision and clarity 
with which he tried to explain some crank (paul?) about char order in 
the std.

well, each epoch has its cranks i guess...

bye

Charles Richmond <frizzle@tx.rr.com> writes:
> Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
>> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>>
>> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
>> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>>
>
> Damn!!! Dik has posted on Usenet for at least the last twenty years,
> and certainly has added to the useful and interesting content.  While
> I *never* knew Dik personally, my life has been diminished by his
> passing. He was a "straight up" kind of guy and there are *not* many
> like that on Usenet.
>
> In the early 90's, I posted a question about calculating the value of
> pi, and Dik posted the following program. (I do *not* know if he
> originated it, but I found it interesting.) You can compile and run it:
>
>
> int
> a=10000,b,c=2800,d,e,f[2801],g;main(){for(;b-c;)f[b++]=a/5;for(;d=0,g=c*2;c
> -=14,printf("%.4d",e+d/a),e=d%a)for(b=c;d+=f[b]*a,f[b]=d%--g,d/=g--,--b;d*=b);}

Arndt credits something practically identical to this but a bit shorter
(there have been many variations), to Dik Winter and Achim Flemmenkamp.

Phil
-- 
Any true emperor never needs to wear clothes. -- Devany on r.a.s.f1

Walter Banks ha scritto:
> 
> Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> 
>> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
>> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>>
>> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> 
> Sad news. We lost someone who loved his craft and was good at it.
> He last posted here on 21 Dec. Dik will be missed.

dik's "heritage":

"Ah, yes, I remember, there was a reason we use Linux here."

hope (no i'm sure) linux is used in hacker's heaven above... :-)

bye

Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> wrote:

> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter

That is, indeed, very sad news. He was one of the few posters to this
newsgroup who commanded _real_ respect.

Richard

On 2010-01-06, Francis Glassborow <francis.glassborow@btinternet.com> wrote:
> Yes, and the best memorial to him would be if some of the experts round 
> here learnt that from him.  Correcting people does not have to be 
> aggressive and confrontational. Dik was in the band of experts who 
> understood that.

A good point.  I should stop posting while in a bad mood.  :)

-s
-- 
Copyright 2010, all wrongs reversed.  Peter Seebach / usenet-nospam@seebs.net
http://www.seebs.net/log/ <-- lawsuits, religion, and funny pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology) <-- get educated!

On 1/6/2010 12:25 AM, Charles Richmond wrote:

> Damn!!! Dik has posted on Usenet for at least the last twenty years, and
> certainly has added to the useful and interesting content. While I
> *never* knew Dik personally, my life has been diminished by his passing.
> He was a "straight up" kind of guy and there are *not* many like that on
> Usenet.
>
> In the early 90's, I posted a question about calculating the value of
> pi, and Dik posted the following program. (I do *not* know if he
> originated it, but I found it interesting.) You can compile and run it:
>
>
> int
> a=10000,b,c=2800,d,e,f[2801],g;main(){for(;b-c;)f[b++]=a/5;for(;d=0,g=c*2;c
> -=14,printf("%.4d",e+d/a),e=d%a)for(b=c;d+=f[b]*a,f[b]=d%--g,d/=g--,--b;d*=b);}
>
>

I wasn't at all prepared for how many sig figs he got out of this:

dan@dan-desktop:~/source$ gcc -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra winter1.c -o out; ./out
winter1.c:2: warning: return type defaults to �int�
winter1.c: In function �main�:
winter1.c:3: warning: implicit declaration of function �printf�
winter1.c:3: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in 
function �printf�
31415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328160963185dan@dan-desktop:~/source$ 


That's amazing.
-- 
frank

On Jan 5, 11:38=A0pm, Ben Bacarisse <ben.use...@bsb.me.uk> wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.http://www.cwi.n=
l/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>

Dik helped me in the "setting to zero" thread in Sep. Maybe he also
gave help to me in other posts which i can't remember and can't find.

I saw Dik's name in this group for many many times before.

Thank you.

Frank <frank@example.invalid> writes:
> On 1/6/2010 12:25 AM, Charles Richmond wrote:
>> In the early 90's, I posted a question about calculating the value of
>> pi, and Dik posted the following program. (I do *not* know if he
>> originated it, but I found it interesting.) You can compile and run it:
>>
>> int
>> a=10000,b,c=2800,d,e,f[2801],g;main(){for(;b-c;)f[b++]=a/5;for(;d=0,g=c*2;c
>> -=14,printf("%.4d",e+d/a),e=d%a)for(b=c;d+=f[b]*a,f[b]=d%--g,d/=g--,--b;d*=b);}
>
> I wasn't at all prepared for how many sig figs he got out of this:

Search for 'spigot' algorithm.

Phil
-- 
Any true emperor never needs to wear clothes. -- Devany on r.a.s.f1

On  5 Jan 2010 at 23:38, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.

Sad news - a valuable contributor to this group who managed to float
above all the bullshit and provide useful information without prejudice.

> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

FFS! The poor guy has just died and you're still worried about tiptoeing
around the topicality zealots. Let them fume if they like while those of
us not completely cut off from common humanity reflect on his
contribution.

In article <slrnhkho62.m72.nospam@nospam.invalid>,
Antoninus Twink  <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>On  5 Jan 2010 at 23:38, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
>
>Sad news - a valuable contributor to this group who managed to float
>above all the bullshit and provide useful information without prejudice.
>
>> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>
>FFS! The poor guy has just died and you're still worried about tiptoeing
>around the topicality zealots. Let them fume if they like while those of
>us not completely cut off from common humanity reflect on his
>contribution.

Indeed.  Well put.

But yeah, topicality Uber Alles!!

gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) writes:

> In article <slrnhkho62.m72.nospam@nospam.invalid>,
> Antoninus Twink  <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>>On  5 Jan 2010 at 23:38, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>>> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
>>> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
>>
>>Sad news - a valuable contributor to this group who managed to float
>>above all the bullshit and provide useful information without prejudice.
>>
>>> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.
>>
>>FFS! The poor guy has just died and you're still worried about tiptoeing
>>around the topicality zealots. Let them fume if they like while those of
>>us not completely cut off from common humanity reflect on his
>>contribution.
>
> Indeed.  Well put.
>
> But yeah, topicality Uber Alles!!
>

"Flash Gordon" actually added something else to his "how sad" reply - in order
to , I couldnt believe it, keep it on topic ...... I was shocked even
for this group.

-- 
"Avoid hyperbole at all costs, its the most destructive argument on
the planet" - Mark McIntyre in comp.lang.c

In article <hiavjm$cil$2@news.eternal-september.org>,
Richard  <rgrdev_@gmail.com> wrote:
>"Flash Gordon" actually added something else to his "how sad" reply - in order
>to , I couldnt believe it, keep it on topic ...... I was shocked even
>for this group.

Give it a rest.

-- Richard
-- 
Please remember to mention me / in tapes you leave behind.

richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) writes:

> In article <hiavjm$cil$2@news.eternal-september.org>,
> Richard  <rgrdev_@gmail.com> wrote:
>>"Flash Gordon" actually added something else to his "how sad" reply - in order
>>to , I couldnt believe it, keep it on topic ...... I was shocked even
>>for this group.
>
> Give it a rest.
>
> -- Richard

And your point is?

Thats twice now in a thread about someones untimely and sad demise that
the automatons in this group have actually mentioned topicality. Give
THAT a rest and then come and talk to me.


-- 
"Avoid hyperbole at all costs, its the most destructive argument on
the planet" - Mark McIntyre in comp.lang.c

In article <hib2ph$3fv$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
Richard  <rgrdev_@gmail.com> wrote:
>richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) writes:
>
>> In article <hiavjm$cil$2@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> Richard  <rgrdev_@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>"Flash Gordon" actually added something else to his "how sad" reply -
>>>in order to , I couldnt believe it, keep it on topic ...... I was
>>>shocked even for this group.
>>
>> Give it a rest.
>>
>> -- Richard
>
>And your point is?
>
>Thats twice now in a thread about someones untimely and sad demise that
>the automatons in this group have actually mentioned topicality. Give
>THAT a rest and then come and talk to me.

As you can see, automatons don't have any human sensitivity.

Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> writes:

> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter

Very sad to hear of Dik Winter's passing.  Thank you Ben
for relaying this here.

On Jan 10, 7:53=A0am, gaze...@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack)
wrote:
> In article <hib2ph$3f...@news.eternal-september.org>,
>
>
>
>
>
> Richard =A0<rgrd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >rich...@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) writes:
>
> >> In article <hiavjm$ci...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> >> Richard =A0<rgrd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>"Flash Gordon" actually added something else to his "how sad" reply -
> >>>in order to , I couldnt believe it, keep it on topic ...... I was
> >>>shocked even for this group.
>
> >> Give it a rest.
>
> >> -- Richard
>
> >And your point is?
>
> >Thats twice now in a thread about someones untimely and sad demise that
> >the automatons in this group have actually mentioned topicality. Give
> >THAT a rest and then come and talk to me.
>
> As you can see, automatons don't have any human sensitivity.

I expressed my sadness about his passing elsewhere upon hearing of
Dik's passing but this seems the best place for adding my note
belatedly. Dik had many interesting things to say about the history of
Algol and I will miss his contributions very much.

Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> I have just heard the sad news that Dik Winter died on the 28th of
> December, a couple of months before he was due to retire.
> http://www.cwi.nl/en/2009/1044/Dik-Winter
>
> Since he was a frequent poster here, I though you'd all like to know.
> My apologies if posts like this are not appropriate.

Being back to Usenet very recently after a long gap, I'd have missed
this thread altogether, but for a recent post.

Very sad news indeed. Dik Winter's posts, usually rich in historical
details, were always very interesting, being a relative newcomer to
the computing field myself.

On 27 Jan, 17:41, spinoza1111 <spinoza1...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I expressed my sadness about his passing elsewhere upon hearing of
> Dik's passing but this seems the best place for adding my note
> belatedly. Dik had many interesting things to say about the history of
> Algol and I will miss his contributions very much.

particularly Algol-68. He seemed to have used it quite heavily. Even
implemented it?