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Comment by nindalf | Hacker News Reader

I wish Dijkstra had named his article on the go to statement[1] something else. It feels like every other author nowadays want to use the sense of authority that the "considered harmful" gives them. Like it's obvious and widely accepted that it's harmful, and they're giving you an FYI.

Just name it "The downsides of microservices" and we'll know that it's your personal opinion. This title might get you more clicks, but it's a turn off for me.

[1] - https://homepages.cwi.nl/~storm/teaching/reader/Dijkstra68.p...

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(Actually it was Wirth that came up with the "Considered Harmful" title. Dijkstra sent the paper as "A case against the Goto statement" [1].)

I would go on a limb and say that CH-titles should be themselves considered harmful. [2] Personally, my main issue with them is that they invite (often unfavourable) comparisons with EJD's paper.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Considered_harmful [2]: https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html

Don’t blame Dijkstra for that. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Considered_harmful#History:

“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 "Go To Statement Considered Harmful".”

So, Dijkstra’s choice for a title would be “A Case Against Microservices”.

I never quite understood the objection to "considered harmful." To me the very wording of the phrase is a jest; it's said with tongue firmly planted in cheek, even if what follows is quite serious, and it fully and effectively declares its intention to go poke some sacred cow in the eye. I never read it as overbearing or judgmental. I love it!

It feels pompous to me.

It’s a bit overused, I’m almost certain I’ve seen an article called ”Considered Harmful” Considered Harmful

Ah, yes, the recursive Considered Harmful. This article was quickly followed up by the rebuke "'Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful" Considered Harmful. Shortly thereafter, the entire blogosphere had a stack overflow error and nearly took the entire internet offline along with it. Recursive Considered Harmful Considered Harmful.

I found it! https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html

There's an HN discussion too https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9744916

I've heard that arrogance is measured in nano-Dijkstras.

"Considered Harmful" has become a meme and a self-reference with several levels of recursion.

I hated the obnoxious tone of the quote when I first heard it, nowadays it makes me smile with a grin.

It's great that people annotate biased articles with the words "Considered Harmful"

If you have enough karma, you can flag any article which uses "Considered Harmful" in the title. That won't get rid of clickbait in general, but maybe authors will choose a different variety of clickbait.

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