God's Own Programmer
Introduction
Many consider Linus Torvalds to be the greatest programmer of all time, an opinion supported by his creation of both the Linux kernel—the foundation of the world's most widespread operating system family—and Git, the world's largest code-hosting and version control system.
Some may say that the duo of Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson created the C programming language, which is the basis for the majority of the world's programming languages and tools today, and UNIX the most revolutionary operating system of all time.
But, what if all of these great minds' work could have been done by one person??
Well, that's exactly what a man known as Terry A. Davis did.
Terry A. Davis
Terrence Andrew Davis (1969-2018) was an American computer programmer and engineer.
He created a new programming language, its own compiler, kernel and then his own operating system, all by himself just by sheer talent and skill and no help from anyone at all.
He single-handedly created TempleOS, a biblical-themed operating system, writing every line of code himself—the kernel, compiler, and over 100,000 lines of documentation. Despite struggling with schizophrenia, his technical brilliance and dedication to his vision made him a legendary figure in programming communities.
Davis initially identified himself as an atheist, but later became a devout Christian after experiencing what he called "a divine revelation from God"
He believed that GOD has chosen him as his one and only programmer to create the world's best operating system!
The Creation
In order to create this operating system, he needed a programming language. He could have easily moved forward with C. But he considered all the other languages were not only not good enough for this divine purpose but also very impure to be even used in the first place. So what did he do? Very simple. He created his own language.
HolyC Programming Language
To create his own language, he needed a new compiler and obviously he brute-forced his way through that and created it by himself too. The result was a new programming language called HolyC.
The HolyC compiler was used to create the TempleOS kernel, compiler, and documentation. All of which were written by Davis alone.
TempleOS - The Third Temple
He also created the TempleOS kernel, compiler, and documentation, all of which were written by Davis alone. He wrote more than 120,000 lines of code to achieve this! For comparison, the first version of Linux (contributed by many developers including Linus Torvalds) had fewer lines than this. Obviously, taking the amount of lines of code written as a metric for code quality nowadays is not ideal and should not be used. However, when Terry wrote all of this, these lines of code could not have been shorter or smaller due to the complexity of HolyC.
He made TempleOS in Las Vegas in his parents' house. It included a bootloader, a kernel, a window manager, 3D graphics library, and multiple games all powered by his own compiler.
TempleOS, as the name suggests, is a biblical-themed operating system designed to be THE THIRD TEMPLE prophesied in the Bible.
Davis proclaimed that he was in direct communication with God, who told him to build a successor to the Second Temple as an operating system.
At startup, it creates a single immortal task called ADAM (the father of every other task just like the Book of Genesis mentioned). This can also take advantage of multiple CPU cores by giving them their respective immortal SETH tasks.
Programs like "AfterEgypt" is a game in which the player travels to a burning bush to use a "high-speed stopwatch". The stopwatch is meant to act as an oracle that generates pseudo-random text, something Davis believed to be coded messages from God.
GOD DOODLE, on the other hand, created random lines which on intersection at random points gave random doodle shapes which may contain GOD's message.
According to Davis, every program in his OS is a message from God that he told Davis to include.
If you ever use TempleOS in the future or have already used it, you will notice that the games included in it are not of that high quality even by that time's standards. This is not because Davis could not create them, but because he believed, "If you have something high-quality, it intimidates the locals, and so—like in TempleOS—I don't want high-quality games because it intimidates people." According to him, his creation (directed by GOD) was to be seen by 'mere mortals' so that they could reproduce something similar to that, thus spreading GOD's message.
You could also create music and manage your own finances in this operating system.
If you did not like any part of its function, then it is completely fine because you can just edit the source code yourself to customize it. This happens due to the presence of the RED SEA file system, another easter egg from the BIBLE.
Between 2009 and 2012, his OS was downloaded 10,000 times, all without heavy promotions like they used to have at that time to advertise similar products. As a matter of fact, he only gave interviews after he got pretty famous for his work.
In 2013, he stated, "God's temple is finished. Now, God kills CIA until it spreads."
His youtube channels kept getting suspended due to the vulgarities of his videos.
When his OS was shown in an exhibition in France, he stated that he was happy that his work was getting the recognition but was also disappointed that only a few of his users used it to 'connect with GOD'.
Struggles and Legacy
Davis was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his early twenties. His mental illness profoundly affected his life, leading to delusions and erratic behavior that often manifested in his online presence and videos.
Despite his condition, he continued to work on TempleOS with remarkable focus and dedication, though his illness made it difficult for him to maintain relationships and stability.
In his later years, Davis became homeless, living out of his car and struggling with his mental health. His family tried to help, but his condition made it challenging to accept support.
On August 11, 2018, Terry A. Davis was struck and killed by a train in The Dalles, Oregon. He was 48 years old. His death was ruled an accident, though the circumstances remain unclear.
Despite his tragic end, Davis left behind a remarkable legacy—TempleOS stands as a testament to his extraordinary programming skills and unwavering vision, inspiring programmers worldwide.