Considered harmful
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In computer science and related disciplines, considered harmful is a phrase popularly used in the titles of diatribes and other critical essays (there are at least 65 such works[1]). It was popularized by Edsger Dijkstra's letter "Go To Statement Considered Harmful",[2] published in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM (CACM), in which he criticized the excessive use of the GOTO statement in programming languages of the day and advocated structured programming instead.[3] The original title of the letter, as submitted to CACM, was "A Case Against the Goto Statement," but CACM editor Niklaus Wirth changed the title to the now immortalized "Go To Statement Considered Harmful."[4]
Frank Rubin published a criticism of Dijkstra's letter in the March 1987 CACM where it appeared under the title "'GOTO Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful"[5]. The May 1987 CACM printed further replies, both for and against, under the title "'"GOTO Considered Harmful" Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful?"[6]. Dijkstra's own response to this controversy was titled "On a somewhat disappointing correspondence".[7]
Some variants with replacement adjectives (considered silly, etc.) have been noted in hacker jargon,[8] making the phrase a snowclone.
According to linguist Mark Liberman, considered harmful was a journalistic cliché, used in headlines, well before the Dijkstra article. He cites the headline over a letter published August 12, 1949 in The New York Times: "Rent Control Controversy / Enacting Now of Hasty Legislation Considered Harmful". [9]
[edit] References
- ^ http://jeff.over.bz/?04_Miscellaneous/03_Considered_Harmful
- ^ Edsger Dijkstra (March 1968). "Go To Statement Considered Harmful". Communications of the ACM 11 (3): 147–148.
- ^ David R. Tribble (February 2005). Go To Statement Considered Harmful: A Retrospective.
- ^ Edsger Dijkstra (June 2001). What led to "Notes on Structured Programming".
- ^ Frank Rubin (March 1987). ""GOTO Considered Harmful" Considered Harmful". Communications of the ACM 30 (3): 195–196.
- ^ Donald Moore, Chuck Musciano, Michael J. Liebhaber, Steven F. Lott and Lee Starr (May 1987). ""'GOTO Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful" Considered Harmful?". Communications of the ACM 30 (5): 351–355.
- ^ Edsger Dijkstra (May 1987). On a somewhat disappointing correspondence.
- ^ Eric S. Raymond et al.. The Jargon File.
- ^ Language Log: Considered harmful
[edit] Some other well-known "considered harmful" essays
- Tom Christiansen (October 1996). Csh Programming Considered Harmful. See C shell.
- Peter Miller (1998). "Recursive Make Considered Harmful". AUUGN Journal of AUUG Inc. 19 (1): 14–25.
- Jonathan Amsterdam (February 2002). "Java's new Considered Harmful". Software Development Magazine.
- Eric A. Meyer (December 2002). "Considered Harmful" Essays Considered Harmful.
- Erik Möller (September 2005). Creative Commons -NC Licenses Considered Harmful.
