From: "James Britt (rubydev)" <james@...>
Date: 2002-01-03T11:21:28+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:30098] Re: Ruby/Python: Software Engineering

> From: Sean Russell [mailto:ser@efn.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 5:47 PM

> Yes, these are opinions, albeit informed opinions.  Your question
> implies that opinions don't matter, when, in fact, they matter very much.
> Programming is still as much art as science.
>
> If you look back through the history of programming, I think you'll find
> that opinions about programming style come in and go out of fashion.
> "Goto" is a good example.  Ulitmately, all syntax derives from matters of
> opinion.  The best we can hope for is overall progress.
>

The seminal paper on goto is rather interesting, if only for the title:
"Go To Statement Considered Harmful" (http://www.acm.org/classics/oct95/)

Note that it does not asy "Go To Statement Proved Bad," despite the paper's strong logic.

Many discussions take the form of "#{something} Considered Harmful."
I believe this is because what is discussed is very much, as Sean said, a matter of
informed opinion.

> --- SER
>