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Michael Hecht celebrates 40 years at SAS!

John_Sall

Michael-Hecht-3.jpg-original.jpg Principal Systems Developer Michael Hecht (@hecht_jmp) celebrates his 40-year anniversary at SAS on May 29.

Michael was one of the founding members of the JMP development team (with John Sall, Chung-Wei Ng, and Ann Lehman). He has always been a Macintosh enthusiast and when I got interested in the graphical user interface pioneered on the Mac, I started asking Michael for advice and then recruited him to be on the team. His first project was an early version of the Formula Editor called the Calculator.

Michael has always been on the hosting team as the Mac expert, but he has also been the leader in improving the coding and engineering behind the C++ implementation of JMP. He took on huge projects involving engineering changes to hundreds or thousands of source code files, keeping them synchronized for months until they were ready to submit. This _50B5573.JPG-jmp.com-standard.jpg accelerated as we adopted the new features in C++11 and the standard libraries.

Among Michael’s large-scale projects he led or had a huge role in:

Inventing JString as our portable string class and implementing StringBot to extract strings for localization. Stringbot scans all our code base looking for strings to localize and making it easy for developers to support localization.
Representing JMP with Apple Development, reporting bugs, testing beta releases, begging for certain changes and fixes that affected us, attending WWDC conferences, and reporting back what new features and changes meant to us.
Transitioning TopPtr from just a glue pointer to std::unique_ptr (at the heart of JSL scripting).
Replacing home-built classes with standard classes. Changing OwnerOfArray to std::vector, which was done in two phases, embedding a std::vector, and later replacing with std::vector. Changing OwnerOf to std::unique_ptr.
DisplayBoxPtr from just glue pointer to shared_ptr (with Dan Schikore and Craige Hales).
Implementing DataTablePtr and DataTableOwner (with Dan Schikore).
Implementing importing of SAS files (SAS7BDAT) natively, rather than through TK routines.
Eliminating the TK layer to SAS. JMP builds faster and has a smaller footprint now.
Investigating the size problems for JMP under XCode and exploring dylibs until Apple helped fix some bugs.
Refining a number of standard objects and classes and host-dependent constants.
Recently improving the OSI-Pi interface facility.
Leading development for the Graph Builder app for iPad.
Working with John Schroedl on static code analysis for JMP, which is critical in finding potential crash issues.
Evolving the Mac application from Motorola 68000 to PowerPC to Intel to Apple Silicon (M1 etc.) with multi-architectural compatibility, 32-bit to 64-bit; Carbon-to-Cocoa. Led the Xcode implementation.
Pioneering a number of tests and reporting features for leaks and other vulnerabilities.

JMP-Discovery2016-fri-SSM_8482.jpg-jmp.com-standard.jpg Michael was also an important presenter, teaching us the intricacies of C++ and all the transitions in well-presented seminars. And in recognition of his huge role in JMP’s success, he was awarded the SAS CEO Award of Excellence in 2017.

Thank you for your dedication and the expertise you brought to JMP all those years ago, and continue to bring every week!

Comments

John_Sall

Michael was also a big technical supporter for Vocal Motion, the SAS show choir, which was led by Michael's wife, Darlene.

PaulSpychala

Congratulations Michael! and thank you for keeping the codebase up to date with std features!

Paul-Mastropolo

What an amazing milestone! Congratulations, Michael, and thanks for all your years of service and dedication to SAS and JMP!

Mandy_Chambers

Congratulations @hecht_jmp ! what a fabulous mileston! I've known you a long time and working with you in JMP has been inspiring, as well as such a great way to learn things about development and coding. Xcode questions I can always bug you about and I appreciate your cool calm demeanor. Celebrate and enjoy!

amy_bullock

Wonderful! Congratulations on this amazing milestone. You were such a big help to me when creating our showcases to celebrate JMP's 25th and 30th anniversaries! Your archive of JMP history is most impressive!

krystalbarnes2

Congratulations Micheal -Thank you for being such a valuable member of JMP!

anne_milley

Congratulations, Michael! We are so fortunate to have your many talents--thank you for all that you've done and continue to do!

ChulHee_JMP

Congratulations, Michael! So impressed and amazing 40 years~

curt_hinrichs

Congratulations Michael on this incredible milestone and thank you for helping to make JMP such an amazing product.

Laura_Higgins

Congratulations Michael - your contributions have clearly shaped JMP into the powerhouse it is today!

chuck_boiler

Congratulations, Michael! You have remained smart, patient and kind for 40 years of our questions. Amazing accomplishment!

Mark_Bailey

Everyone knows you have made critical contributions to JMP for a long time. You have been a vital part of JMP and remain so. You are part of JMP's DNA! It's just nice to call out your extensive role this way. 40 years—wow!

martindemel

Congratulations, Michael! This is incredibly long time - wow! It has always been more than a pleasure working with you and meeting you at DSEs or in Cary, not to forget your deep sounding voice when singing country songs at the stage! Looking forward to 2025 April Reunion )))
Thanks to all your contributions to JMP software and the JMP family!