Dr. Dobb's Journal Going Web-Only 233
paleshadows writes "The first issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal (DDJ) was published in January 1976. A few days ago, Herb Sutter (the chair of the ISO C++ committee and a long-time DDJ columnist) announced through his latest blog post that, 'as of January 2009, Dr. Dobb's Journal is permanently suspending print publication and going web-only.' This follows an earlier announcement that PC Magazine is to become digital-only, too, as of February 2009. To those of us who enjoy reading such stuff away from the computer these are bad news, as there seems to be no other major technical programmers' magazines left standing."
Re:Missing Options (Score:5, Insightful)
Magazines shouldn't need batteries.
not surprised (Score:5, Insightful)
When I got my January copy it was in a plastic bag with a brochure for sd west. The brochure was thicker than the magazine. I almost tossed the magazine and kept the brochure. So much has been cut back over the years. I will miss the bug of the month [gimpel.com]. It was an ad but it was fun. Maybe they'll still have it on the web version.
2600 (Score:5, Insightful)
PC Magazine... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'm Sorry, but Good Riddance (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'm Sorry, but Good Riddance (Score:5, Insightful)
Today we have our laptops, Kindles, RSS feeds, incredible PDAs, hell, my cell phone does more than first computer ever could, ten times over.
I used to read books and magazines on my Palm tungsten. Then I switched to blackberry, and I have nearly $1000 in ebooks that I can't read. At all. Why would people want to run that risk? The capabilities are there, but after /years/ of ebook publishing there's still no standard that will ensure this can't happen. Print media can always be read, no matter what platform you're using.
Of course, there's a much more practical concern: after 12-16 hours, I want to /stop/ looking at a monitor for a while.
Just please don't give me this nostalgic wasn't-it-great-back-then crap about how you used to be so excited for the new issue to come in the mail. Rather, be excited about seeing your RSS feed updated. Shift your focus, enjoy your nostalgia, but put it into perspective.
Nostalgia is longing for something past for its own sake. In this case, there's a measurable difference in quality. I can count on one hand the number of web sites that deliver the kind of quality technical information that DDJ and CUJ used to provide.
And among those web sites, it's still a challenge to find the valid, useful information hidden amidst blog entries where folks will hold forth on topics they know little to nothing about.
I haven't purchased a magazine outside of an airport in this millennium and I don't know anyone else who has, either. There isn't one thing a magazine could tell me that I haven't read (and probably re-re-read) many times over.
In other words, "I don't use this, and therefore nobody else does either"?
There dead! (Score:4, Insightful)
I have seen this stupid decision done before.
To accountants it's great on paper, web site's cheaper, and great traffic.
But they don't take into account that it's the print magazine that's been driving there traffic.
As soon as they stop the printed magazine people will slowly stop going to there site and they will slowly run out of cash.
Re:Missing Options (Score:3, Insightful)
Trees absorb more CO2 in their first 50 years of life than in their second (I know - [citation needed] - if anyone has one please post). Does a newly planted tree absorb as much as a 100 year old tree? No. But on a 100-year scale, chopping down and replanting is the better move. I don't think that pointing out that they're replanting is at all disingenuous.
Re:Damn damn damn (Score:3, Insightful)
Glad I haven't missed anything by ignoring all those tech rags. That's pretty bad.
I did subscribe to Dr. Dobbs once. But I found it frustrating. They have so much pressure to tighten the writing and shrink the articles that much info is cut or just left out. Sometimes some of those details are crucial, and their absence makes the articles difficult. I am thinking especially of an article on the then new Linux ELF format. I still don't have a firm grasp of ELF's scope and how ELF works and why, and the article lost me by skipping the explanations and diving straight into some technical considerations. It sure wasn't written for the sort of application developer who barely even knows about this mysterious "linking" thing because he never ventures out of the IDE.
Maybe this move online will let them ease off on the brutal cutting. Leave more details in there, and use hyperlinks to point to even more.
Re:not surprised (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, the in-depth programming articles in the dead tree version have been gone for several years, since M&T sold it to CMP.
I think it's a law.... any good magazine will be bought by CMP and turned into crap.
Re:You must be confused (Score:3, Insightful)
Until you drop it while you're reading in the tub. Then you receive an electrical shock, and a financial shock of $300; whereas with a dead tree mag, you're out $5.00.
Re:not surprised (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, may be these capitalist crooks shouldn't be asking for money from society to bail them out, then, either.
The grandparent has a point. It's stupid to let random capitalists ruin a publication just to improve their bottom line. If they're not going to try to run a magazine, they shouldn't be buying a magazine. It doesn't benefit society, which ultimately pays for their houses and swimming pools.
Re:not surprised (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, may be these capitalist crooks shouldn't be asking for money from society to bail them out, then, either.
See, you misspelled "fascists" again. I'm as pro-capitalism as you can get, but I loathe those cretins.
If they're not going to try to run a magazine, they shouldn't be buying a magazine.
Agreed. I'm not even sure if I understand the point of buying something just to run it into the ground.
Re:Journalists (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:c't has always been wonderful (Score:2, Insightful)
WTF is "permanently suspending"? (Score:3, Insightful)
Is not ending the correct term?
Re:DDJ, Byte, and Microcornacopia where great. (Score:1, Insightful)
The C++ Report had an awesome run in the 1990s. During that time the language and standard library were in considerable flux, and that magazine seemed to be the focal point for researchers, power users, standards committee members, compiler implementors, authors and trainers, Stroustrup and his coterie... they were it. New ideas for using templates and new design patterns were introduced on a monthly basis.
As the '90s ended, the magazine started losing traction, possibly because C++ seemed to have little to do with the dotcom boom, Java, and XML. The magazine folded, and some of its columnists went over to the CUJ (a distant rival in the '90s). I've tried to find a stash of back issues, either for sale on a CD-ROM, or for free on a web site; but no luck. I get the impression there might be some legal dispute holding up the release, but that's just a guess.
A couple of collections of articles have been published (C++ Gems and More C++ Gems), but they seemed to lack the sense of exploration and community that the magazine had in spades. And an 800-pg paperback is just not a very fun form factor; it won't even lie flat while you eat your sandwich.