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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Good Thing</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../G.html" title="G"/><link rel="previous" href="gonzo.html" title="gonzo"/><link rel="next" href="google.html" title="google"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Good Thing</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gonzo.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">G</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="google.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="Good-Thing"/><dt xmlns="" id="Good-Thing"><b>Good Thing</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.,adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [very common; always pronounced as if capitalized. Orig. fr. the
1930 Sellar &amp; Yeatman parody of British history <i class="citetitle">1066 And All
That</i>, but well-established among hackers in the U.S. as well.]
</p></dd><dd><p> 1. Self-evidently wonderful to anyone in a position to notice:
&#8220;<span class="quote">A language that manages dynamic memory automatically for you is a
Good Thing.</span>&#8221; </p></dd><dd><p> 2. Something that can't possibly have any ill side-effects and may
save considerable grief later: &#8220;<span class="quote">Removing the self-modifying code from
that shared library would be a Good Thing.</span>&#8221; </p></dd><dd><p> 3. When said of software tools or libraries, as in &#8220;<span class="quote">YACC is a
Good Thing</span>&#8221;, specifically connotes that the thing has drastically
reduced a programmer's work load. Oppose
<a href="../B/Bad-Thing.html"><i class="glossterm">Bad Thing</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gonzo.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../G.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="google.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">gonzo </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> google</td></tr></table></div></body></html>