黑咖啡

b. New Baby in the Horizon B. 地平线上的新生儿

In 1991, Linus Benedict Torvalds was a second year student of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki and a self-taught hacker. The 21 year old sandy haired soft-spoken Finn loved to tinker with the power of the computers and the limits to which the system can be pushed. But all that was lacking was an operating system that could meet the demands of the professionals. MINIX was good, but still it was simply an operating system for the students, designed as a teaching tool rather than an industry strength one.

1991年，Linus Benedict Torvalds是赫尔辛基大学电脑科学系的大二学生，同时，他也是一个自学成才的黑客。 这位沙粒色头发，说话腼腆的芬兰人，酷爱对电脑的（软硬件）的能力进行探索（tinker with:胡乱修改（金山词霸）），并研究如何进一步的推动系统的极限。 然而此时所缺少的，就是一个能符合其专业需求的操作系统。 MINIX是不错，但却依然只是个给学生用的系统，一个教学工具而非工业强势产品。

At that time, programmers worldwide were greatly inspired by the GNU project by Richard Stallman, a software movement to provide free and quality software. Revered as a cult hero in the realm of computing, Stallman started his awesome career in the famous Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, and during the mid and late seventies, created the Emacs editor. In the early eighties, commercial software companies lured away much of the brilliant programmers of the AI lab, and negotiated stringent nondisclosure agreements to protect their secrets. But Stallman had a different vision. His idea was that unlike other products, software should be free from restrictions against copying or modification in order to make better and efficient computer programs. With his famous 1983 manifesto that declared the beginnings of the GNU project, he started a movement to create and distribute softwares that conveyed his philosophy (Incidentally, the name GNU is a recursive acronym which actually stands for 'GNU is Not Unix'). But to achieve this dream of ultimately creating a free operating system, he needed to create the tools first. So, beginning in 1984, Stallman started writing the GNU C Compiler(GCC), an amazing feat for an individual programmer. With his legendary technical wizardry, he alone outclassed entire groups of programmers from commercial software vendors in creating GCC, considered as one of the most efficient and robust compilers ever created.

那时候，全世界的程序员都被Richard Stallman所领导的GNU项目极大的鼓舞着。该项目致力于提供免费高品质的软件。 作为电脑界的传奇英雄，STallman在麻省理工的人工智能（AI）实验室开始了他的牛B(Awesome=牛，例如，you are awesome = 你太牛了）事业，并在七十年代中后期，开发出了Emacs编辑器（GNU里面的著名文本编辑器，目前版本是惊人的23.1）。80年代初，软件公司从AI实验室撬走了大量人才，同时和他们签订了非常苛刻的“保密协定”以保护商业机密。 不过Stallman的理想并非如此。 他的意愿是，软件和其他产品不同，不该收到拷贝和修改方面的限制，这样才可以获得更好更高效率的程序。 他著名的1983年宣言宣告的GNU项目的诞生，而他也从此开始按照自己自己的理念来创造和分享软件。（巧合的是， GNU这个缩写本身可以被看做事GNU不是Unix（GNU is Not Unix)的缩写）。 不过，为了达到他的培养终极程序员的理想，首先（他）必须创造一种（编程）的工具。 所以，从1984年开始，Stallman开始编写GNU C 编译器（GCC），这对于个人程序员来说确实是一项丰功伟绩。 由于他的传奇式的技术魔力，和仅凭一己之力就超过了软件公司大把的程序员，他所创造的GCC是有史以来最高效和健全的编译器之一。