CONSIDERED HARMFUL
\kənsˈɪdəd hˈɑːmfə͡l], \kənsˈɪdəd hˈɑːmfəl], \k_ə_n_s_ˈɪ_d_ə_d h_ˈɑː_m_f_əl]\
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A type of phrase based on the title ofEdsger W. Dijkstra's famous note in the March 1968Communications of the ACM, "Goto Statement Considered Harmful",which fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars.Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimonysufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer printarticles taking so assertive a position against a coding practice.In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers andparodies bore titles of the form "X considered Y". Thestructured-programming wars eventually blew over with therealisation that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles hasremained as a persistent minor in-joke.
By Denis Howe
