Seeing how this prize, named after the "Father of Swedish engineering", dates back to the 1800's, and is thus older than the Nobel prize, it has typically rewarded engineers from the classical engineering fields.<p>As such, it's <i>very</i> nice to see a feat almost exclusively carried out in the digital world of software get rewarded, and put right next to accomplishments in construction, metallurgy, etc.<p>Among notable earlier recipients with a tech connection (technnection?) stands Håkan Lans:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A5kan_Lans" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A5kan_Lans</a>
I love the last quote of the interview which roughly translates to:<p>"But this prize might contribute to my family understanding that I do something of value while they sleep."[0]<p>Spoken by a person who has created something that has probably been used by hundreds of millions of people. Obviously the quote is very tounge in cheek, but still.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.polhemspriset.se/aktuellt/arets-polhemspris-till-daniel-stenberg/" rel="nofollow">http://www.polhemspriset.se/aktuellt/arets-polhemspris-till-...</a>
Daniel has contributed valuable time and energy to ensuring that the requirements of the Core Infrastructure Initiative Best Practices Badge [0] were realistic and meaningful.<p>To get an idea what it's like developing software that is used by more than a billion people, look at this classic blog post from Daniel [1].<p>[0] <a href="http://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/" rel="nofollow">http://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/</a>
[1] <a href="https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/01/19/subject-urgent-warning/" rel="nofollow">https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/01/19/subject-urgent-warnin...</a>
If I remember correctly, Daniel has been working on curl for at least 2 hours a day for ~20 years. I hope he and his family have a well deserved vacation. Thanks Daniel for your hard work.
Curl is in everything. And you can tell, if you find the license. In my 2014 Chevy Cruze, if you look in the owner's manual, there is the curl license, in all its glory. I've used it many times myself, and it's always proven itself to be a great piece of software.
I wonder if the media attention due to him getting banned from traveling to the USA contributed to him being known to a wider audience, and thus on the radar of whoever picks the award winner.
Congratulations Daniel, well deserved!<p>Thank you for creating and maintaining curl. I'm sure it was not always easy to stay motivated and dedicated at working on this magnificent tool.
I wrote a tiny (< busybox) curl, and found some needed http features (like redirection) required a different architecture than the naive one I started (and stayed) with. I wonder how many such details have informed the architecture of curl...
Did not know much about curl until I saw this. I have seen a few curl something.sh | sh instructions online that I always skip and wget the script for inspection.
I guess it took a prestigious swedish award to the author to add it to my afternoon reading :-)<p>Judging from the respect in all the comments, it looks like a very well deserved honour. Congratulations and thanks for your work!
I will appreciate even more after my reading.
Curl (as well as many other tools) are crucial to me everyday. Thanks to Daniel (and all the other contributors of all the projects and libraries)! Enjoy your holiday. Aotearoa (Maori name for NZ) is a beautiful place.<p>Full disclosure: I'm kiwi, so might be somewhat biased ;-)