Dr. Dobb's Journal March 2003
It probably comes as no surprise that everyone here at DDJ world headquarters has a second job. Job one, of course, is Dr. Dobb's Journal—the magazine. In terms of focus, scheduling, and every other important issue, DDJ is—and always will be—da man. Still, special projects abound, and at times, we even enlist former editors to help out. So if what follows comes across as a thinly veiled sales pitch, well, step right up—and would you like fries with that CD?
For starters, in conjunction with this issue's focus on XML, we're launching Dr. Dobb's XML Resource CD-ROM. Developed by former DDJ executive editor and Web Techniques magazine editor-in-chief Michael Floyd, Dr. Dobb's XML Resource CD-ROM has the full-text to Michael's bestselling books Building Web Sites with XML and Special Edition Using XSLT, along with his industry-leading "Beyond HTML" and "XML@ Large" columns from Web Techniques (1998-2001). In addition, the CD-ROM has full source and documentation for Michael's Rocket XML Framework, a tool that enables Internet Information Servers (IIS) as XML document servers, and includes the Document Type Definitions (DTDs), XSLT style sheets, and Document Object Model (DOM) scripts that let web servers serve XML documents. Also, the CD contains an XML tools database, a comprehensive list of XML resources with links, and much more. You can find out more about Dr. Dobb's XML Resource CD-ROM at http://www.ddj.com/ and http://store.yahoo.com/ddjcdroms/.
Then there's the e-book .NET Programming With Visual C++ that managing editor Deirdre Blake and senior production editor Monica Berg have been working on. Written by well-known game designer and DDJ author Max Fomitchev, .NET Programming With Visual C++ is delivered in PDF format, delves into the .NET Framework and Managed Extensions to C++, and provides a complete reference to the basic and advanced types contained in the .NET Framework System namespace. Max also examines .NET collections, the System::IO namespace, ADO.NET, ASP.NET web services, web service protocols (HTTP-GET, HTTP-POST, and SOAP), and the Web Services Definition Language (WSDL). .NET Programming with Visual C++ is available either on CD-ROM (see http://store.yahoo.com/ddjcdroms/) or as a download (http://www.ddj.com/).
For their part, Kevin Carlson and Della Song have been wearing not one, not two, but at least three (or more) hats. In addition to building Dr. Dobb's CD-ROM Release 14, which includes all of Dr. Dobb's Journal from January 1988 through December 2002 (again see http://store.yahoo.com/ddjcdroms/), Kevin is executive editor, and Della managing editor, of The Perl Journal, an e-zine that focuses on the Perl language. TPJ is also delivered in PDF format and can be downloaded at http://www.tpj.com/. To entice new subscribers (and reward current ones), they've arranged to make available, at a big discount, the recently released Computer Science & Perl Programming, published by O'Reilly & Associates. Edited by TPJ founding editor Jon Orwant, Computer Science & Perl Programming includes 70 articles from the early years of TPJ covering hardcore computer science, advanced programming techniques, and the underlying mechanics of Perl. You can find out more at http://store.yahoo.com/sdmgcd-store/comscienandp1.html.
In addition to writing his long-running "Programming Paradigms" and long-irritating "Swaine's Flames" columns, editor-at-large Michael Swaine coordinates a slew of e-mail newsletters, including the recently launched AI Expert Newsletter, edited by Dennis Merritt, and Al Stevens's C Programming Newsletter, by (you guessed it) senior contributing editor Al Stevens. The AI Expert Newsletter, for instance, is based on the now-defunct AI Expert magazine, and includes commentary, articles, news, and more about current goings-on in the artificial intelligence field. Other free newsletters that Michael works on include the: Data Compression Newsletter, edited by Mark Nelson; Active Scripting Newsletter, edited by Mark Baker; Math Power Newsletter, edited by Homer Tilton; Linux Digest Newsletter, edited by Steven Gibson; and Dr. Dobb's Software Tools Newsletter, an expanded version of the "Of Interest" section of the magazine. To subscribe to any of these free e-publications (available in both text and HTML format), go to http://www.ddj.com/maillists/.
Not to be left out, news editor Shannon Cochran is doing double-duty as managing editor of BYTE.com (http://www.byte.com/). The good news is that with the recent shift of BYTE.com to a fee-based model, we can start publishing more and more articles. However, it also means that Shannon has more work to do than she originally bargained for. The upside, of course, is that Shannon gets to talk to Jerry Pournelle whenever she wants. To encourage readers to sign up for BYTE.com access, Shannon is offering a package deal that includes the BYTE CD-ROM, with full content of the venerable BYTE magazine from 1990 through March 1998. Find out more at http://www.byte.com/announcement.htm.
As for my role in all this, well, the pencils still need to be sharpened and the coffee pot cleaned. Hey, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Jonathan Erickson
editor-in-chief
jerickson@ddj.com