March 18, 2026
Nulls, knots, and hot takes
Celebrating Tony Hoare's mark on computer science
Internet mourns a legend — and reignites the “null” debate
TLDR: Tony Hoare, a towering figure in computing, has died at 92 and Bertrand Meyer’s tribute set the internet both grieving and debating. Fans praised his legacy while others reignited the long-running fight over “null” references—who started it, whether they’re inevitable, and how better design could save us headaches.
Programmers are crying, arguing, and quoting — in that order — after Bertrand Meyer posted a sweeping tribute to computer science giant Tony Hoare, who passed away at 92. The piece glows about Hoare’s elegant writing, his industry roots, and his Oxford-era impact — and readers are feeling it. One fan summed up the mood: “We’re lucky to have lived through the birth of a new science.”
But this is the internet, so the tears quickly met the debates. The hottest thread? Hoare’s infamous “null” idea — the empty reference that has haunted many a program. One commenter insists “the null pointer predates Hoare,” pointing to earlier languages, and argues Hoare’s later confession mattered because he took responsibility, not because he invented the mess. Another fired back at the idea that nulls are “inevitable,” saying “the real world doesn’t have non-things” and urging better designs that avoid surprise emptiness.
Meanwhile, others geeked out about Hoare’s Oxford days and the formal methods movement — think rigorous, mathy ways to write safer software. A few kept it simple: “fantastic tribute.” And yes, the punsters arrived with the usual “null feelings” and “undefined grief” jokes. Love him or debate him, the community agrees on one thing: Hoare’s mark — on code and culture — is unforgettable. Read the tribute on Meyer’s blog.
Key Points
- •Bertrand Meyer published a tribute noting the death of C.A.R. (Tony) Hoare at age 92 and aims to summarize his major achievements.
- •Hoare emphasized a unified approach to research and writing, illustrated by his Turing Award lecture.
- •He introduced a foundational rule for reasoning about recursion, allowing the desired property to be assumed for recursive calls when proving a procedure body.
- •Hoare began his career in industry as a programmer and manager and had an unconventional academic background in classics at Oxford, without a doctorate (beyond honorary degrees).
- •Meyer highlights that several early pioneers (Strachey, Milner, Landin, Michael Jackson, Bob Floyd, Michel Sintzoff) also lacked PhDs, situating Hoare within that historical context.