Re: [matplotlib-devel] ANN: Michael Droettboom, matplotlib lead developer

[Benjamin R. <ben...@ou...>]

On Thursday, August 2, 2012, John Hunter wrote:

> It is a great honor for me to announce that Michael Droettboom has
> agreed to take on the role of lead developer of matplotlib.  Since
> Michael joined the project in 2007, he has been responsible for much
> of the code that brought matplotlib from being an excellent tool to a
> world class one.  No one in the world understands the code from the
> inside out like he does, and many of his contributions, while often
> unseen at the surface, have laid the foundation for matplotlib to
> reach further into the wild and wonderful things it can now do.
>
> To name a few of his contributions: generic, optimized caching
> transformations; dramatic backend simplification and rationalization;
> countless optimizations; implementation of Knuth mathtex layouts;
> python3 support, and dolphins!  I like to tell people Michael codes
> with the force of ten men, and he's an incredible asset to our team.
>
> My role has been significantly diminished of late -- although I have
> been the nominal lead developer, in practice I have been a release
> manager.  Unfortunately, I need to take some time to focus on family
> health issues, but will continue to follow development and make
> contributions as I can.  We'll be looking for a release manager soon,
> and if you are interested in stepping up, we'll welcome the effort.
> We have a wonderful distributed development team using github pull
> requests, and the line between core developers, project leaders and
> plain-ole contributers is blurry.  But I think it helps to have
> someone thinking about the project as a whole, who is willing and able
> to make decisions when necessary, and no one is better suited to doing
> this than Michael.
>
> I also extend my heartfelt thanks to Perry Greenfield and STScI.  They
> have been supporting matplotlib since 2004 with ideas, code and
> developer resources.  They employ Michael currently, and are part of
> the reason why he is able to take on the leadership of this large
> project.
>
> Michael, many thanks.
>


Congrats, Michael!

Ben Root