Please note that the C is still there. We are not abandoning coverage of what is still the most widely used programming language on the planet, at least for making new products. C is still the language of choice for writing applications that must be portable, high performance, and/or embedded — to name just three critical arenas. Our readers continue to submit useful techniques that we gladly share with the rest of you. And with the revived activity in C standardization, you can expect the language to keep evolving in interesting directions.

C++ has been inside the magazine for quite some time. We have been covering C++ more and more with each passing month. As more of our readers find useful ways to apply object-oriented techniques to practical problems, they present us with more and better articles to choose from. I can say with some satisfaction that it has been getting easier all the time to select C++ articles for each issue — ones that are neither preachy, nor academic, nor preoccupied with esoterica. And our coverage of the C++ standardization effort benefits no end from regular reports from Dan Saks, Secretary of the two committees together developing the standard.

You can't buy a C compiler for a major host without finding a C++ compiler attached. (There are exceptions, but they are rare.) Similarly, you can't buy a C++ compiler without finding a C compiler attached. (The exceptions are even more rare.) If the compilers we all work with say C/C++ on the box, we figured that the magazine should say the same thing on the cover.

What's in a name? Well, not much, perhaps. But the character who uttered that rhetorical question in Romeo and Juliet died an untimely death because of a small clash of surnames. Some of our constituents care very much about our name. That includes casual readers at newsstands. Our dedicated readers tell us they are at best enthusiastic, at worst indifferent, to a change of names. So long as we keep up the quality, that is. And that's what we'll do.

P.J. Plauger
pjp@plauger.com

P.S. I have been asked by Customer Service to clarify a few administrative matters. The terms of subscriptions are not going to change. Nor is the newsstand price, frequency of publication, or any other such details. And for my part, I plan to continue the use of CUJ as a brief, and pronounceable, nickname for the magazine. C/C++UJ, or even CCUJ, just don't cut it, in my book.