Sadly, Bill Atkinson has died. Atkinson was an early Apple employee who, among other things, wrote MacPaint, QuickDraw, and the HyperCard system. Everyone who knew him considers him one of the best programmers of all time.
Here, in his own words, is Atkinson’s account of Steve Jobs luring him away from his PhD studies and his early days at Apple. When Jobs left Apple to found Next, we wanted Atkinson to come with him but Atkinson chose to stay at Apple and complete HyperCard.
Take a look at this tribute from John Gruber over at Daring Fireball. Gruber makes clear why he thinks Atkinson holds a privileged place in the Pantheon of great programmers. Steven Levy—of Hackers and Insanely Great fame—also has a nice remembrance of Atkinson over at Wired but you may encounter pay wall problems. If so, try Apple News if you have access to some sort of Apple device.
If you’re my age, it’s a sad reality that all your heroes are quietly passing away.