For HN readers, he's probably most famous as the inventor of the Kernel programming language. We just had a thread about it two weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26162673
As someone who used to hang around wikinews a lot, its both interesting and in a way sad, to only find out about Pi Zero's other interests after he passed. I know we all have lives outside of our screen names, but sometimes its easy to forget that.
Anyways, in the capacity i knew him, he was always a kind caring, rational voice. One which will be missed.
Pi zero separated his wiki-identity and real life identity. When his family told me about his death, I contacted a number of people who knew Dr Shutt academically.
They were unaware of his work on-wiki just like most Wikimedians didn't know about his work outsite Wikinews. It was my fortune to have known about his work both on and off wiki.
Oh my gosh! I found his Kernel work so inspiring, I, like many others, implemented a version in a hobby project. I was always happy to see his comments when I was reading Lambda the Ultimate, excited to see his always carefully thought out and unique perspective. I'm sad I'll never be able to chat with him directly about his ideas. Learning he was so prolific in other areas isn't surprising, but it is impressive. RIP to a great mind, and best wishes for his family.
Life is short. As you mourn John's passing, take a moment to reflect on the relationships you have built over the years. Take some time to reach out and tell someone you appreciate them.
Didn't recognize his real name but once I saw his username was Pi zero I immediately knew he who he was. He was one of the most prolific contributors to Wikinews. Sad news for the project and his family.
I knew John Shutt from a number of email correspondences.
As someone who's taught foundations of physics at top universities, I found his work in that area EXTREMELY impressive. I haven't seen it mentioned in his obituaries yet.
He was also a lovely person.
I'm so sorry he's passed away.
Does anyone know how I can send condolences to his family?
I am greatly saddened to hear this. I came to know about him through his work on fexprs (he was one of the world's leading experts on fexprs due to his work on Kernel). His insights on language design, his general willingness to share his own learning process, and his seemingly unquenchable curiosity will be missed. Of interest to those here might be his many posts on LtU [0].
damn, prominent wikipedists should be memorised by united nations. Also imho wikipedia should be financed by united nations or something like world bank
