The coming year looks to be a milestone for Dr. Dobb's and a watershed for the computer industry at large. For our part, 1995 launches DDJ into its 20th year of publication. Not bad, the good Doctor recently said, if I don't mind saying so myself. His prescription: another 20 years of the same. To honor the occasion, it seems a party should be the order of the day. How about getting together with us up at Swaine's mountaintop pool sometime next summer? Michael can roll out the Smokey Joe and his cousin Corbett can take charge as social director/lifeguard. I can see it now--games like "Pin the Tail on the Pundit," "Babble" (a Scrabble-like game where you're only allowed to use computer buzzwords), and "Name that Algorithm." On second thought, I think that's the day I'm supposed to get my hair cut.
Still and all, we have been making concrete plans for 1995, starting with our editorial calendar. Naturally, you'll see some familiar topics in the lineup--algorithms, for instance, remain one of the fundamental building blocks of programming, no matter which platform you're developing for or what language you're using. Other subjects--visual programming, to name one--are emerging and bear examination. Of course, this doesn't mean that these are the only topics we'll be looking at next year. We're always looking for technical articles that address issues and techniques important to the art and science of computer programming. If you have an article you'd like to share with your fellow programmers, give us a call or drop us a line (e-mail or otherwise). We'll get a copy of author guidelines right out to you. It's important to remember that the magazine generally comes out about a month prior to its cover date--you probably received this September issue in early August--so make your plans accordingly if you're targeting a specific issue.
Don't forget that if you've run across an undocumented interface of some kind or another, Andrew Schulman would like to hear from you, as would Bruce Schneier if you've come up with a new algorithm (or a unique twist on an old one). And we're always looking for articles that focus on tools, projects, or books for our "Examining Room," "Programmer's Workbench," and "Programmer's Bookshelf" sections. If there's something other than an article on your mind, send us a letter--your views on software development are important to us.
There's little doubt that 1995 will provide a clearer picture of the directions in which the computer industry will be lurching. For instance, component (or interchangeable) objects--the Holy Grail of object-oriented programming--hold promise, although (as we'll discuss in next month's DDJ) many of the models for dealing with them are still "vaporspecs" (that's vaporware in its pre-beta form). By this time next year, however, today's press releases should morph into specifications, and the current crop of specifications will likely be real implementations.
Similarly, we should know by next fall whether or not the PowerPC really is the platform of the future, as we've been told. Questions abound, primarily about issues such as emulation and resulting performance, but it's still early, and true native PowerPC apps are forthcoming. (We'll be examining factors related to PowerPC application development, starting with next month's coverage of the processor's bi-Endian capabilities.)
Finally, 1995 should produce even more startling developments in the world of communications and networking--particularly considering the recent legislative changes governing what telephone companies can and cannot do. Frankly, if you gave me a feather I couldn't be more tickled about the prospects of the telephone, electric, and cable-TV companies slugging it out over the right to send digital data into my house.
Technology-wise, 1995 should be an exciting year, and here's hoping you'll enjoy it with us.
January Numerical Programming February Distributed Computing March Portability and Cross-Platform Development April Algorithms May Operating Systems & Microkernels June Software Engineering & Design Methodologies July Graphics Programming August C/C++ Programming September User Interfaces October Object-Oriented Programming November Client/Server Architectures December Visual Programming
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Copyright © 1994, Dr. Dobb's Journal