While we were picking a cover concept for the fifteenth-year celebration (after narrowing it down to crystal—for the Emily Post fans—champagne flutes or festive fireworks, we went with the unsubtle theme), I looked back at the early days of the magazine to see what made it such a success. What began as a 40-page bimonthly journal in January 1988 quickly grew in volume and prestige. In fact, in just two short years, Circuit Cellar had expanded to 88 pages. In this business, you have to keep up with the exponential pace of progress; one calendar year is more like two years in Silicon Valley.

In those beginning years, we went through several changes, including our title. The magazine was introduced as Circuit Cellar INK—Microcomputer Applications, but became Circuit Cellar INK—The Computer Applications Journal in July 1988. Eleven years later, we dropped the “INK,” changed the tag line, and became Circuit Cellar—The Magazine for Computer Applications.

Over the past 15 years, our ardent readers have pushed us to remain at the forefront of the engineering magazine industry. Our position as a reputable resource for engineers has helped us continue to attract talented, innovative designers to write articles. We’ve developed a close relationship with many of these designers, and have asked a handful of notables to join us as columnists.

In the premier issue, readers were introduced to columnist Ed Nisley’s expert designs with his article, “High Security on a Budget—Build a Video Hand Scanner/Identifier.” Jeff Bachiochi and Tom Cantrell also appeared in the first issue as editors; but their engineering prowess quickly awarded them writing duties, making them an integral part of the magazine’s early success. By issue 5, Jeff’s hands-on approach had earned him his own column, “From the Bench.” A year later, readers got their first dose of Tom’s “Silicon Update.” Then, in 1995, Fred Eady caught our attention with his article, “Take Your PIC—A Look at the PIC16Cxx Family.” His enthusiasm and skillfullness so impressed us that we asked him to join our burgeoning staff to write the “Applied PCs” column.

Throughout the years, our columnists have evolved with the industry, giving us fresh, pertinent material month after month. It’s a tough job, especially considering they’ve had to keep up with about 30 years’ worth of progress. I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their tireless efforts. Circuit Cellar certainly wouldn’t have gotten to where it is today without their dedication.

A special thanks also goes to our feature writers for their contribution and impressive loyalty. Readers who have been with us since the beginning should also recognize the names of some of our staple feature writers—those guys who consistently give us outstanding projects to read about. Names like George Novacek and Tom Napier come to mind. Together, George and Tom have written nearly four dozen articles, each offering useful experiences to draw from. And in this celebratory issue (by the way, it’s also our one-hundred-fiftieth issue), we’ve made sure to give you the very best of Jeff, Fred, George, and both Toms.

Here’s to another 15 years!

jennifer.huber@circuitcellar.com

Published: January-2003