Introduction

Communications of the ACM has been most fortunate to have had seven authoritative stewards lead its editorial direction over most of these last 50 years. The editors-in-chief (EICs) who have served this publication, and the computer science community, with their foresight and dedication to the cause are some of the prime reasons why CACM continues to thrive even as computing interests, membership dynamics, and professional demands change and expand in scope. CACM’s EICs were always focused on finding the common thread among a very broad-based audience, searching out the field’s shining stars, and making sure the final product was always of the utmost quality and professional value.

In the following section, we present stories from the five surviving CACM EICs (Calvin C. Gotlieb, M. Stuart Lynn, Robert L. Ashenhurst, Peter J. Denning, and Jacques Cohen) who share some poignant memories from their days at the helm, as well as some of the challenges they faced, and their hopes for this publication as it moves forward. We also excerpt some of the decisive and intuitive editorial convictions of Alan Perlis (CACM’s first EIC) and Gerard Salton (its third) as they embarked on their stellar editorships. And we introduce the newly appointed CACM EIC, Moshe Y. Vardi, who unveils news of an exciting editorial revitalization for this publication and the work that led to the creation of this plan.