Two years ago, I used this space to say goodbye to the Managing Editor of The C Users Journal. Howard Hyten moved on to new pursuits in Austin, Texas. As I predicted, we went through a few rough spots. (MEs do all the real work of putting together a magazine, in case you didn't know, not us Senior Editors.) And as I predicted, we muddled through. CUJ has a life of its own, aided and abetted by a dedicated staff at R&D Publications. There was, indeed, life after Howard.His eventual replacement as Managing Editor was Diane Thomas. Once she figured out my areas of (in)competence, she wised up and took over the magazine. She learned when to ask my advice and when to ignore it, what work to feed me and what to protect from me, what I did well enough and what needed close checking. In short, she found her own best solution to a perennial problem — how to put out a monthly magazine when the Senior Editor and essentially all the writers appear mostly as disembodied streams of ASCII text shipped across the Internet.
You've probably guessed by now that Diane, in turn, is stepping down as Managing Editor of The C Users Journal. Fortunately for all of us, she is not disappearing from the scene completely. She is simply changing her work mix, devoting more time to raising family and less to mothering CUJ contributors. Much as I will miss having her do half my job, I respect her priorities (having been in a similar position myself). And I celebrate her freedom to make such a choice (having had similar freedom myself).
So I take this opportunity to say thanks to Diane Thomas. I thank her on your behalf as well as my own. I have enjoyed working with her and I appreciate the flock of good issues she has shepherded out the door. I'm just glad we don't have to say goodbye.
P.J. Plauger
pjp@plauger.comP.S. R&D Publications has been actively interviewing for a replacement Managing Editor, but I don't know who will win that dubious distinction. We'll let you know.