Software design pioneer and Pascal programming language creator Niklaus Wirth has passed into the afterlife. https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/niklaus_wirth_obituary/
A great obit piece on his impact and place in history which will treat him well. Inspired a lot of people not just in the tech world but all around.
That obit reiterates the first inside-joke I learned in the computer business: Europeans generally pronounce his name the right way ('Nick-louse Veert'), Americans invariably mangle it into 'Nickel's Worth.' This is to say that Europeans call him by name, but Americans call him by value.
If you count assembler, Pascal was Language #4 for me, preceded by BASIC and FORTRAN. He created it to show the advantage of simplicity, and It changed my life.
Thank you, Dr. Wirth.
Rest in Proof.