Gallery: The Secret of a Successful Programming Language? A Really Great Beard
01image
*C creators Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, genius guys with genius beards*
02james-gosling
*Java inventor James Gosling, a clear sign that the success of a programming language depends on facial hair* *Photo: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_Gosling_2008.jpg)*
03bjarnestroustrup
*C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup had the necessary facial hair. But then he made the mistake of shaving it off* *Photo: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BjarneStroustrup.jpg)*
04john-mccarthy
*John McCarthy. His beard survived for 50 years -- and so did Lisp.* *Photo: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_McCarthy_Stanford.jpg)*
05image-2
*Alan Kay, the creator of SmallTalk, a seminal language that suffered from a lack of chin hair.* *Photo: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alan_Kay2.jpg)*
06larri-wall
*Perl rocks. But it would have rocked harder if Larri Wall had grown a beard* *Photo: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Larry_Wall_YAPC_2007.jpg)*
JIM COLE07thomas-kurtz
*Thomas Kurtz built BASIC. And all he had was a basic mustache* *Photo: Jim Cole/AP*
08kristen-nygaard
*You stil using SIMULA? That's probably because Kristen Nygaard liked to shave* *Photo: Estate of Kristen Nygaard/Marius Nygaard*
09grace-hopper
*Grace Hopper, inventor of Cobol and the exception that proves the rule* *Photo: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grace_Hopper_and_UNIVAC.jpg)*
