Farewell Editorial

Richard Wiener, Editor- in-Chief

Dear Readers,

"Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Journal of Object Technology (JOT). We hope that this issue and those to follow will break new ground in providing readers throughout the world with an easily accessible and relevant journal of the highest quality that uses the internet as its medium of publication. … We shall strive to publish reviewed papers, columns, software reviews and book reviews of the highest quality and relevance."

Those words were written for the May/June, 2002 inaugural issue of JOT. Now exactly eight years later I am writing my farewell editorial in the May/June, 2010 issue. You our readers can best judge whether JOT has been relevant, of high quality and whether it has met and continues to meet your professional needs. A new Editor-in-Chief will take over the reins of the JOT editorial team starting with the July/August, 2010 issue.

As many of you know, JOT was a continuation of a publishing concept started in JOOP (Journal of Object-Oriented Programming) that I was a founding Editor of in the late 1980's. The concept was to assemble a team of highly respected practitioners, researchers and academics who would contribute timely columns and opinion pieces related to the emerging field of object-oriented programming and technology. Other special features such as book and software reviews would be included. They would be in addition to reviewed, feature-length papers, typically five per issue. JOOP was a for-profit print publication whereas JOT is a non-profit internet publication published at the ETH by the Chair of Software Engineering. The idea to migrate the JOOP concept over to the non-profit internet publication format was Bertrand Meyer's idea. I was honored to be asked whether I would lead the effort to accomplish this mission. Uncertain at first whether JOT could attract the inflow of unsolicited manuscripts.

From our inaugural editorial: "I wish to thank the many authors who responded quickly to my direct request to submit manuscripts. Based on these submissions, we have put together this issue as well as a portion of the content of the next few issues. We need more submissions as soon as possible so I invite our readership to send me manuscripts for consideration that deal with every aspect of object technology both theoretical and practical. We shall feature articles that deal with OO languages, components, OO education and training, OOA, OOD, patterns, OODBMS, methodologies and anything else related to the world of object technology. Your submissions shall be reviewed in a timely manner and published as soon as possible."

I primed the pump by inviting successful JOOP authors to contribute to the early issues of JOT. After the first several months of pump-priming JOT became self-sustaining and continues to be to this very day. Only about 30 percent of submitted papers are accepted, some requiring revisions before final acceptance.

Since I've been doing this kind of editorial work for over 20 years I believe it is time to pass the baton to new editorial leadership. I look forward to JOT's continuing vitality as it moves into the future under new editorial leadership. I expect to contribute Educator Corner columns from time to time in the future.

I wish to thank our columnists who have endured my sometimes annoying reminders to meet our bi-monthly deadlines often requiring an interruption in their busy work schedule in order to get me their next column. There are so many outstanding columnists that have graced the pages of JOT over the past eight years. I will mention only our current cadre of regular columnists that includes Dave Thomas and Mahesh Dodani, both having served as regular columnists for JOOP as well, Douglas Lyon and John McGregor. I offer my gratitude and huge THANKS to these as well as our many other columnists over the years, too numerous to list. I thank Claudia Günthart, JOT's webmaster, for her outstanding work and help. I thank our reviewers over the years. I most significantly thank Bertrand Meyer the publisher of JOT and its creator for his inspiration, his support and his seminal contributions to our industry.

The editorial leadership of JOT will soon be transferred to Oscar Nierstrasz. He will introduce himself in the July/August issue and let you know his plans for JOT under his leadership.