Dr. Dobb's Journal
Encyclopedia
Dr. Dobb's Journal was a monthly journal
published in the United States
by CMP Technology. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. DDJ was the first regular periodical focused on microcomputer
software, rather than hardware. It later became a monthly section within the periodical InformationWeek
called Dr. Dobb's Report and is now a news website
published by United Business Media
.
newspaper about computer games programmed in the BASIC
computer language, with the same name as the tiny nonprofit educational corporation that he had founded, People's Computer Company
. Dennis Allison was a longtime computer consultant on the San Francisco Peninsula
and sometime instructor at Stanford University
.
In the first three quarterly issues of the PCC newspaper published in 1975, Bob had published articles written by Dennis, describing how to design and implement a stripped-down version of an interpreter for the BASIC language, with limited features to be easier to implement. He called it Tiny BASIC
. At the end of the final part, Dennis asked computer hobbyists who implemented it to send their implementations to PCC, and they would circulate copies of any implementations to anyone who sent a self-addressed stamped envelope
. Dennis said, Let us stand on each others' shoulders; not each others' toes.
The journal was originally intended to be a three-issue xerographed
publication. Entitled Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontia (with the subtitle Running 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 of Dennis and Bob. It was at a time when memory was very expensive, so compact coding was important. Microcomputer
hobbyists needed to avoid using too many byte
s of memory – avoiding overbyte.
After the first photocopies were mailed to those who had sent stamped addressed envelopes, PCC was flooded with requests that the publication become an ongoing periodical devoted to general microcomputer
software.
PCC agreed, and hired Jim Warren as its first editor. He immediately changed the title to Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia prior to publishing the first issue in January, 1976.
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 from volunteer contributors, with Steve Wozniak
as one of the better known of them. Other contributors included Jef Raskin
, later credited as a leader in the Macintosh development, and Gary Kildall
, who had created the first disk operating system for microcomputers, not married to proprietary hardware.CP/M
.
Computer program
source code
published during the early years include:
The March 1985 issue "10(3)" printed Richard Stallman
's "GNU Manifesto
" a call for participation in the then-new free software movement
.
In recent years, the magazine received contributions from developers all over the world working in application development and embedded systems across most programming languages and platforms. The magazine's focus became more professional. Columnists included Michael Swaine and Verity Stob
, the pseudonymous British programmer.
The title was later shortened to Dr. Dobb's Journal, then changed to Dr. Dobb's Software Tools as it became more popular. The magazine later reverted to Dr. Dobb's Journal with the byline
"The World of Software Development", with the abbreviation DDJ also used for the corresponding website. It was published by the Think Services division of the multimedia company United Business Media
.
In January 2009 Jonathan Erickson, the editor-in-chief, announced the magazine would become a section of InformationWeek called Dr Dobb's Report. and a website.
Awards.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by CMP Technology. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. DDJ was the first regular periodical focused on microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
software, rather than hardware. It later became a monthly section within the periodical InformationWeek
InformationWeek
InformationWeek is a weekly print magazine, an online site with corresponding face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology. On February 29, 2008, CMP Technology was...
called Dr. Dobb's Report and is now a news website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
published by United Business Media
United Business Media
UBM plc is a magazine publisher, news distributor and events organiser providing business information services principally to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive and financial services industries...
.
Origins
Bob Albrecht edited an eccentricEccentricity (behavior)
In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive...
newspaper about computer games programmed in the BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
computer language, with the same name as the tiny nonprofit educational corporation that he had founded, People's Computer Company
People's Computer Company
People's Computer Company was an organization, a newsletter and, later, a quasiperiodical called the "dragonsmoke." PCC was founded and produced by Bob Albrecht & George Firedrake in Menlo Park, California in the early 1970s.The first newsletter announced itself with the following...
. Dennis Allison was a longtime computer consultant on the San Francisco Peninsula
San Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...
and sometime instructor at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
In the first three quarterly issues of the PCC newspaper published in 1975, Bob had published articles written by Dennis, describing how to design and implement a stripped-down version of an interpreter for the BASIC language, with limited features to be easier to implement. He called it Tiny BASIC
Tiny BASIC
Tiny BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language that can fit into as little as 2 or 3 KB of memory. This small size made it invaluable in the early days of microcomputers , when typical memory size was only 4–8 KB.- History :...
. At the end of the final part, Dennis asked computer hobbyists who implemented it to send their implementations to PCC, and they would circulate copies of any implementations to anyone who sent a self-addressed stamped envelope
Self-addressed stamped envelope
A self-addressed stamped envelope , stamped self-addressed envelope , or just self addressed envelope in the UK, is an envelope with the sender's name and address on it, with affixed paid postage and mailed to a company or private individual...
. Dennis said, Let us stand on each others' shoulders; not each others' toes.
The journal was originally intended to be a three-issue xerographed
Xerography
Xerography is a dry photocopying technique invented by Chester Carlson in 1938, for which he was awarded on October 6, 1942. Carlson originally called his invention electrophotography...
publication. Entitled Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontia (with the subtitle Running 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 of Dennis and Bob. It was at a time when memory was very expensive, so compact coding was important. Microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
hobbyists needed to avoid using too many byte
Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
s of memory – avoiding overbyte.
After the first photocopies were mailed to those who had sent stamped addressed envelopes, PCC was flooded with requests that the publication become an ongoing periodical devoted to general microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
software.
PCC agreed, and hired Jim Warren as its first editor. He immediately changed the title to Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia prior to publishing the first issue in January, 1976.
Early years
Jim Warren was DDJ's editor for only about a year and a half. While he went on to make a splash with his series of West Coast Computer Faires, subsequent DDJ editors like Marlin Ouverson, 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.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 from volunteer contributors, with Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne...
as one of the better known of them. Other contributors included Jef Raskin
Jef Raskin
Jef Raskin was an American human-computer interface expert best known for starting the Macintosh project for Apple in the late 1970s.-Early years and education:...
, later credited as a leader in the Macintosh development, and Gary Kildall
Gary Kildall
Gary Arlen Kildall was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur who created the CP/M operating system and founded Digital Research, Inc....
, who had created the first disk operating system for microcomputers, not married to proprietary hardware.CP/M
CP/M
CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
.
Computer program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
published during the early years include:
- Tiny BASICTiny BASICTiny BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language that can fit into as little as 2 or 3 KB of memory. This small size made it invaluable in the early days of microcomputers , when typical memory size was only 4–8 KB.- History :...
interpreterInterpreter (computing)In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language... - Palo Alto Tiny BASIC by Li-Chen WangLi-Chen WangDr. Li-Chen Wang is an American computer engineer, best known for his Palo Alto Tiny BASIC for Intel 8080-based microcomputers.This was the fourth version of Tiny BASIC that appeared in Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia, but probably the most influential. It appeared in the...
- Small-CSmall-CIn computing, Small-C is both a subset of the C programming language, suitable for resource-limited microcomputers and embedded systems, and an implementation of that subset...
compilerCompilerA compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
by Ron Cain
The March 1985 issue "10(3)" printed Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
's "GNU Manifesto
GNU Manifesto
The GNU Manifesto was written by Richard Stallman and published in March 1985 in Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools as an explanation and definition of the goals of the GNU Project, and to call for participation and support. It is held in high regard within the free software movement as a...
" a call for participation in the then-new free software movement
Free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political movement with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms "software libre", "open...
.
Discontinuation of printed edition
Verity Stob
Verity Stob is the pseudonym of a British satirical columnist. Stob is an anonymous software developer, the author of humorous and satirical articles about information technology, particularly software development. Since 1988, she has written her "Verity Stob" column for .EXE magazine, Dr. Dobb's...
, the pseudonymous British programmer.
The title was later shortened to Dr. Dobb's Journal, then changed to Dr. Dobb's Software Tools as it became more popular. The magazine later reverted to Dr. Dobb's Journal with the byline
Byline
The byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines place bylines at the bottom of the page, to leave more room for graphical...
"The World of Software Development", with the abbreviation DDJ also used for the corresponding website. It was published by the Think Services division of the multimedia company United Business Media
United Business Media
UBM plc is a magazine publisher, news distributor and events organiser providing business information services principally to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive and financial services industries...
.
In January 2009 Jonathan Erickson, the editor-in-chief, announced the magazine would become a section of InformationWeek called Dr Dobb's Report. and a website.
Later history
In March 2011 Dr. Dobb's Journal, began appearing again as a PDF magazine made available to subscribers at the Dr. Dobb's website. The primary Dr. Dobb's content streams are: the Dr. Dobb's website, Dr. Dobb's Journal (the monthly PDF magazine, which has different content from the website), and a weekly newsletter, Dr. Dobb's Update. In addition, Dr. Dobb's continues to run the JoltJolt
Jolt may refer to:*Jolt Cola, a soft drink*Jolt gum, a caffeinated chewing gum from the makers of Jolt Cola*Jolt Online Gaming, a game server host, game network and broadband internet service provider...
Awards.
See also
- 386BSD386BSD386BSD, sometimes called "Jolix", was a free Unix-like operating system based on BSD, first released in 1992. It ran on PC compatible computer systems based on the Intel 80386 microprocessor...