ACCU, previously known as the Association of C and C++ Users, is a non-profit, worldwide user group of people interested in software development, dedicated to raising the standard of computer programming. The organisation publishes two journals and organizes an annual conference.
History
ACCU was formed in 1987 by Martin Houston. The original name of the organisation was C Users' Group (UK), and this remained the formal name until 2011. It adopted the public name Association of C and C++ Users from 1993 to 2003, and adopted the shorter form ACCU from 2003 onward. Although originally created for people in the United Kingdom, the membership is worldwide, predominantly European and North American, but also including members from Central and South America, Australasia, Africa, and Asia. Originally focused on C programmers, it has expanded over time to include all programming languages, especially C++, C#, Java, Perl, and Python.
Publications
ACCU currently publishes two journals:
- C Vu – A members-only journal serving as the association's newsletter, carrying book reviews, articles on software development, and regular columns such as Student Code Critique and Professionalism in Programming.
- Overload – A journal aimed at professional software developers, covering topics from programming and design through to process and management. Overload is available online to both members and non-members free of charge.
Conference
The ACCU is operated by a volunteer committee, elected at an Annual General Meeting during the annual conference each spring. From 1997 to 2012 the conference took place in Oxford, and in 2013 it moved to Bristol. It attracts speakers from the computing community including Bjarne Stroustrup (designer and original implementer of C++), Andrei Alexandrescu, Simon Peyton-Jones, Guido van Rossum, Eric S. Raymond, Herb Sutter, and many others. The UK Python Conference originally started as a track at the ACCU conference.
Standardisation
ACCU supports the standardisation process for computer programming languages. It has provided financial sponsorship of meetings in the UK for both the ISO C programming language working group and the ISO C++ working groups, and helped finance travel to ECMA meetings in mainland Europe.
Mailing Lists
ACCU operates mailing lists, some open to non-members, covering general programming discussions as well as mentored discussions. Mentored groups have included Effective C++, Python, software patterns, functional programming, and XML, often based around the study of a book.
