Dr. Dobb's Journal

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Dr. Dobb's Journal ( DDJ ) was a monthly US computer magazine for software developers until January 2009 . Often referred to as “ Dr. Dobb’s “booklet was published by CMP Media and first published in January 1976. The first issue was entitled “Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia ".

At the beginning of 2009, editor-in-chief Jonathan Erickson announced the discontinuation of the print edition and announced that in future only a slimmed-down version as Dr. Dobb's report will appear in InformationWeek magazine . The online offer was also discontinued at the end of 2014. The website remains available online as an archive.

The name in the title “Dr. Dobb's “is an artificial word, created by contraction from the first names of Dennis Allison and Bob Albrecht, whereby the inventor of the name, Rick Bakalinsky, wrongly assumed that Dennis' first name was Don .

DDJ was the first regularly published computer magazine that deals specifically with microcomputer - software employed instead of hardware. In 1985 the legendary GNU Manifesto by Richard Stallman was published in the DDJ .

history

origin

Bob Albrecht was an eccentric out newspaper about computer games, which in the programming language BASIC were programmed. It had the same name as the small, nonprofit education company he'd started: People's Computer Company (PCC). Dennis Allison was a longtime computer consultant on the San Francisco Peninsula and an occasional lecturer at Stanford University .

In the first three quarterly issues of the PCC-Zeitung, published in 1975, Albrecht describes how a stripped-down version of an interpreter for the BASIC language with limited functions is designed and implemented in order to simplify implementation. He called it Tiny BASIC . At the end of the last part, Allison asked computer hobbyists who implemented their implementation in PCC and they would forward a copy of each implementation to anyone who mailed a self-addressed stamped envelope. Allison said let's stand on each other's shoulders; not each other's toes.

The magazine was originally intended to be a xerographed publication with three issues. Titled Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontics (subtitled Running Light Without Overbyte ) was created to promote the implementations of Tiny BASIC. The original title was created by Eric Bakalinsky, who occasionally did paste-up work for PCC. Dobb's was a contraction of Dennis and Bob . Back then, computer memory was very expensive, so compact coding was important. Microcomputer hobbyists had to avoid using too many bytes of memory to avoid overbytes .

PCC hired Jim Warren as its first editor. He immediately changed the title to Dr. Dobbs Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontics before publishing the first issue in January 1976.

Early years

Jim Warren was the editor of DDJ for only a year and a half. While causing a sensation with his series of West Coast Computer Faires , subsequent DDJ editors like Marlin Ouverson, Hank Harrison, Michael Swaine and Jonathan Erickson seem to have focused on the journalistic and social aspects of the young but growing microcomputer industry . Eventually, PCC, the not-for-profit company, sold DDJ to a commercial publisher.

The content of the newsletter was originally pure material for enthusiasts . The initial interest was in the Tiny BASIC interpreter, but Warren expanded it to include a variety of other programming topics, as well as a strong consumer bias, particularly required in the chaotic beginnings of microcomputing. All of the content came from volunteers, Steve Wozniak being one of the best known. Other contributors were Jef Raskin , who was later recognized as a leader in Macintosh development. Hal Hardenberg, founder of DTACK published an early newsletter for Motorola 68000-based software and hardware. and Gary Kildall , who developed CP / M , the first disk operating system for microcomputers that was not married to proprietary hardware.

The source code of computer programs published in the first few years includes:

The March 1985 issue "10 (3)" printed Richard Stallman's " GNU Manifesto " as a call to participate in the then new movement for free software .

Setting the printed output

The title later became Dr. Dobb's Journal abridged and then, with increasing popularity, to Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools changed. The journal later returned to Dr. Dobb's Journal with the sales line " The World of Software Development ", with the abbreviation DDJ also being used for the corresponding website. In January 2009, Jonathan Erickson, the editor-in-chief, announced that the magazine would cease monthly print publishing, but it would move to a section of InformationWeek called Dr. Dobb's Report, a website and a monthly digital PDF edition.

Single receipts

  1. ↑ a b c Michael Swaine: Dr. Dobb's Journal @ 30. In: Dr. Dobb's Journal, 1/2006, p. 18 and Dr. Dobb's Portal, November 24, 2005.
  2. ↑ Marlin Ouverson: (computer) power to the people. May 19, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2019 (American English).
  3. ↑ Marlin Ouverson. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Jonathan Erickson: Dr. Dobb's Journal: A Pocketful of Change. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .

Web links