 Issue #1 | |
| Editor | Andrew Binstock |
|---|---|
| Categories | Computer magazines |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Circulation | 120,000 |
| First issue | January 1976; 49 years ago (1976-01) |
| Final issue | February 2009 (2009-02) (print) |
| Company | People's Computer Company M&T Publishing Miller Freeman CMP Media United Business Media UBM Technology Group Informa PLC |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | www.drdobbs.com (formerlywww.ddj.com) |
| ISSN | 1044-789X |
Dr. Dobb's Journal[1] (often shortened toDr. Dobb's or DDJ) was a monthlymagazine published in theUnited States byUBM Technology Group, part ofUBM. It covered topics aimed atcomputer programmers. When launched in 1976, DDJ was the first regular periodical focused onmicrocomputer software, rather than hardware. In its last years of publication, it was distributed as aPDF monthly, although the principal delivery ofDr. Dobb's content was through the magazine'swebsite. Publication ceased at the end of 2014,[2] with the archived website continuing to be available online.
Bob Albrecht edited aneccentric newspaper about computer games programmed inBASIC with the same name as the tiny nonprofit educational corporation that he had founded,People's Computer Company (PCC).Dennis Allison[1] was a longtime computer consultant on theSan Francisco Peninsula and sometime instructor atStanford University. TheDobbs title was based on a mashup of the first letters of their names: Dennis and Bob.
In the first three quarterly issues of the PCC newspaper published in 1975, Albrecht had published articles written by Allison, describing how to design and implement a stripped-down version of aninterpreter for the BASIC language, with limited features to be easier to implement. He called itTiny BASIC. At the end of the final part, Allison asked computer hobbyists who implemented it to send their implementations to PCC, and they would circulate copies of any implementations to anyone who sent aself-addressed stamped envelope. Allison said, "Let us stand on each others' shoulders; not each others' toes."
The journal was originally intended to be a three-issuexerographed publication. Titleddr. dobb's journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontia (with the subtitleRunning Light Without Overbyte) it was created to distribute the implementations of Tiny BASIC. The original title was created by Eric Bakalinsky, who did occasional paste-up work for PCC.Dobb's was a contraction ofDennis andBob. It was at a time when computer memory was very expensive, so compact coding was important.Microcomputer hobbyists needed to avoid using too manybytes of memory.
After the first photocopies were mailed to those who had sent stamped addressed envelopes, PCC was flooded with requests that the publication become an ongoingperiodical devoted to generalmicrocomputersoftware.
PCC agreed, and hiredJim Warren as its first editor. He immediately changed the title toDr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia prior to publishing the first issue in January 1976. The title refers to "jumping through hoops" (calisthenics) and "pulling teeth" (orthodontia).
Jim Warren was DDJ's editor for about a year and a half.[3] While he went on to make a splash with his series ofWest Coast Computer Faires,[4] subsequent DDJ editors[5] like Marlin Ouverson,[6][7] Hank Harrison,Michael Swaine and Jonathan Erickson appear to have focused on the journalistic and social aspects of the young but growing microcomputer industry. Eventually PCC, the non-profit corporation, sold DDJ to a commercial publisher.[5]
The newsletter's content was originally pure enthusiast material. Initial interest circled around the Tiny BASIC interpreter, but Warren broadened that to include a variety of other programming topics, as well as a strong consumer bias, especially needed in the chaotic early days of microcomputing. All of the content came fromvolunteer contributors, withSteve Wozniak as one of the better known of them. Other contributors includedJef Raskin, later credited as a leader in the Macintosh development; Hal Hardenberg, the originator ofDTACK Grounded an early newsletter forMotorola 68000 based software and hardware; andGary Kildall, who had createdCP/M, the first disk operating system for microcomputers which was not married to proprietary hardware.
Computer programsource code published during the early years include:
There were also projects for computer speech synthesis and computer music systems.[8] The March 1985 issue "10(3)" printedRichard Stallman's "GNU Manifesto" a call for participation in the then-newfree software movement.
In later years,[when?] the magazine received contributions from developers all over the world working in application development andembedded systems across mostprogramming languages and platforms. The magazine's focus became more professional. Columnists includedMichael Swaine,Allen Holub andVerity Stob, the pseudonymous British programmer.
The title was later shortened toDr. Dobb's Journal, then changed toDr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools as it became more popular. The magazine later reverted toDr. Dobb's Journal with the selling line, "The World of Software Development", with the abbreviation DDJ also used for the corresponding website. In January 2009 Jonathan Erickson, the editor-in-chief, announced the magazine would cease monthly print publication, become a section ofInformationWeek calledDr Dobb's Report,[9] a website and monthly digital PDF edition.
The primary Dr. Dobb's content streams at the end were the Dr. Dobb's website,Dr. Dobb's Journal (the monthly PDF magazine, which had different content from the website) and a weekly newsletter,Dr. Dobb's Update. In addition, Dr. Dobb's continued to run the Jolt Awards and, since 1995, theDr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming Award. Regular bloggers includeScott Ambler,Walter Bright,Andrew Koenig, andAl Williams. Adrian Bridgwater edited the news section beginning in 2010.
On December 16, 2014, an article by editor-in-chief Andrew Binstock announced thatDr. Dobb's would cease publication of new articles at the end of 2014.[10][11][needs context][2] Archived articles are still available online. While no longer distributed, Dr. Dobb's is widely considered[by whom?] an important and influential source for the history of the personal computer industry.[citation needed]
later changed to Dr. Dobb's Journal
