good thing

2 definitions found

good thing - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  Good Thing
  
     <convention> (From the 1930 Sellar and Yeatman parody "1066
     And All That") Often capitalised; always pronounced as if
     capitalised.
  
     1. Self-evidently wonderful to anyone in a position to notice:
     "The Trailblazer's 19.2 Kbaud PEP mode with on-the-fly
     Lempel-Ziv compression is a Good Thing for sites relaying
     netnews".
  
     2. Something that can't possibly have any ill side-effects and
     may save considerable grief later: "Removing the
     self-modifying code from that shared library would be a
     Good Thing".
  
     3. When said of software tools or libraries, as in "Yacc is
     a Good Thing", specifically connotes that the thing has
     drastically reduced a programmer's work load.
  
     Opposite: Bad Thing, compare big win.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1995-05-07)
  

good thing - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  Good Thing
   n.,adj.
  
     [very common; always pronounced as if capitalized. Orig. fr. the 1930
     Sellar & Yeatman parody of British history 1066 And All That, but
     well-established among hackers in the U.S. as well.]
  
     1. Self-evidently wonderful to anyone in a position to notice: "A
     language that manages dynamic memory automatically for you is a Good
     Thing."
  
     2. Something that can't possibly have any ill side-effects and may
     save considerable grief later: "Removing the self-modifying code from
     that shared library would be a Good Thing."
  
     3. When said of software tools or libraries, as in "YACC is a Good
     Thing", specifically connotes that the thing has drastically reduced
  a
     programmer's work load. Oppose Bad Thing.