How many times have you heard that goto is a bad idea? Or more specifically, “GOTO considered harmful?” The odds are that you’ve heard this many times, along with many other statements that have made their way through computer-industry lore. In this talk, Alvaro Videla introduces a number of these myths and statements, describes the circumstances in which they were made, and helps us to understand the reasons why such smart people would make such seemingly dogmatic, inflexible, and unqualified statements. If you’re interested in the history of the computer industry, or the ways in which our programming languages, techniques, and tools have evolved over time, this talk should be quite enjoyable.