RE: [aspectj-users] A new AspectJ project lead

["Mik Kersten" <beatmik@xxxxxxx>]

Three years ago, in an attempt to beat some sense into my head, Gregor
pulled me aside and said: "I don't know all the language implementers in the
world, but I do know a lot of them.  Jim is one of the best."  Learning
first hand what he meant has been a tremendous privilege.

Of course this is also a problem, since you're just about irreplaceable.  We
will be dependent on your continuing help and the successful transfer of the
compiler architecture.  But thanks to your efforts the AspectJ project has a
solid foundation, and is ready for us to deliver commercial developers
full-featured IDE integration.  Having tooled around in that space with
Adrian for one-and-a-half years now, I know that he is the ideal person to
lead AspectJ through the next stage.  We are very fortunate to have him to
accept this role.  

My involvement with the project is changing as well.  For the past six
months, while at Intentional Software, I did not make a significant
contribution.  But that's about to change.

While building the Atlas application server at UBC in 1999 I learned that a
mechanism for declaring crosscutting structure is essential to enterprise
application development.  I was having considerable trouble using AspectJ in
my IDE, and was thrilled by the opportunity to fix that problem by joining
Gregor's team at PARC.  Our current IDE support would meet the needs I had 4
years ago, but tools have changed.  To better support commercial developers
we need to integrate into advanced IDE features such as refactoring and
task-specific views.  I also believe that there is relevant research to be
done in presenting crosscutting structure across the development lifecycle,
across enterprise application resources, and at runtime.  Motivated by these
opportunities I am pleased to announce that I start working with Adrian and
his Hursley team this week, and will get a chance to sort through those
research problems starting this fall in a PhD program with Gail Murphy at
UBC.  

I am delighted to be back in the saddle, and look forward to making history
together.

Mik

--
http://kerstens.org/mik 

> ________________________________________
> From: aspectj-users-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:aspectj-users-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Adrian Colyer
> Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 10:25 AM
> To: aspectj-users@xxxxxxxxxxx; aspectj-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> Firstly, I know that everyone involved in the AspectJ project joins me in
> thanking Jim for all that he's done leading the technical development of
> AspectJ. Jim has been described as one of the best compiler writers in the
> world, but we know he's that and much more besides, We'll miss you, Jim...
> but not too much, because we're delighted that your involvement in the
> project continues and we won't let you go easily ;-).
> 
> This is a very exciting time for AspectJ and for aspect-orientation in
> general. Even in the last few months there's been an explosion of interest
> in AO amongst mainstream commercial and enterprise developers. With a
> design
> shaped by a large user base using AspectJ to solve real problems, and a
> robust implementation (we've successfully compiled systems comprising
> millions of lines of code using AspectJ 1.1), AspectJ is well positioned
> to
> help meet their needs.  If we continue to communicate clearly what AspectJ
> can do, and to listen carefully to the feedback of our users, I believe
> this
> project can achieve something really quite special indeed.
> 
> My first contact with AspectJ was towards the back-end of 2000. For me,
> the
> concepts clicked the moment I first heard them, and I knew that aop was
> going to be big. I still remember the thrill of writing my first few
> aspects
> and seeing them run - it felt like magic! One of the things I love about
> this project is getting the chance to sit down with folks and show them
> AspectJ in action. I see in their reactions that same mix of excitement
> and
> enthusiasm that first inspired me.  Nowadays my time is divided between
> promoting and demonstrating AspectJ, AOSD, and its application, applying
> AspectJ to real problems on real projects, and developing the core tools
> themselves (AspectJ and AJDT). I think that's a healthy (though at times
> demanding!) mix.
> 
> I feel both a great sense of excitement, and a great sense of
> responsibility, in taking on a leadership role in the next stage of
> AspectJ's development. I know it's going to be hard work at times, but I
> also know it's going to be a lot of fun. Let's make history together...
> 
> -- Adrian
> Adrian_Colyer@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> Jim.Hugunin@xxxxxxxx
> Sent by: aspectj-users-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
> 09/07/2003 17:40
> Please respond to aspectj-users
> 
>         To:        aspectj-users@xxxxxxxxxxx, aspectj-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
>         cc:
>         Subject:        [aspectj-users] A new AspectJ project lead
> 
> 
> 
> I've spent the last 4+ years leading the technical development of AspectJ.
>  This has been a fun and wild ride.  I remember my first crazy month on
> this
> project porting the initial Lisp-based AspectJ-0.2 compiler to produce the
> Java-based AspectJ-0.3 compiler.  We've come a long way from that early
> prototype used only by a few software-development researchers to the solid
> AspectJ-1.0 and AspectJ-1.1 releases now used for serious commercial
> development.
> 
> The growth of the community and the technology means that the original
> research and prototype development of AspectJ is complete. As such it is
> time for ongoing development and support of AspectJ to move outside of
> PARC.
> The project's move to eclipse.org was one important step in this
> transition.
>  When we made that move I accepted the position of "interim project lead"
> to
> maintain continuity while finishing the 1.1 release.  I knew that we would
> need to find new leadership outside of PARC to drive the work of building
> and maintaining a platform for large scale commercial deployment.
> 
> I've talked with many people about who should replace me as project lead
> and
> almost everyone said the same thing, "Adrian Colyer would be my obvious
> choice if only he has the time to do the job."  Well, I'm thrilled to
> announce that Adrian believes he has the time and has accepted the
> position
> of AspectJ project lead with the unanimous approval of both the eclipse
> technology PMC and all the committers on the AspectJ project.
> 
> I can't think of anyone I would be happier passing on this position to.
>  Adrian has extremely strong technical and management abilities
> demonstrated
> in both commercial and open source projects.  Perhaps more importantly, he
> really gets the idea of AOP and AspectJ and can clearly articulate its
> value
> to a broad range of people.  I'm excited to see where this project will go
> under Adrian's leadership.
> 
> Although I'm reducing the scope of my involvement in this project, I plan
> to
> remain a committer who can fix critical compiler bugs, address important
> architectural issues and help new contributors learn their way around the
> compiler code.
> 
> Thanks and keep in touch,
> Jim Hugunin
> _______________________________________________
> aspectj-users mailing list
> aspectj-users@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/aspectj-users