6 ms·

Colons in computer science paper titles (2018)

40 points by mjn 7y ago

shoo 7y ago
based on "bad extrapolation of trends by eye": we should expect to hit saturation point with a proportion of 1.0 cs papers containing colons by 2180. this leaves directions for future research: "Colons in paper-titles: are other characters even necessary?"
- jaclaz 7y ago
  >"Colons in paper-titles: are other characters even necessary?" Of course: question marks, but are smiley making characters also needed ;-)?
- mjn 7y ago
  It seemed too frivolous to include in the blog post (I'm the author), but I fit an exponential to the last 10 years for Twitter consumption, which predicts 100% colon titles as early as 2050: https://twitter.com/mm_jj_nn/status/1055555513658810368 https://twitter.com/mm_jj_nn/status/1055555513658810368
ape4 7y ago
Next time I am going to write algorithm64() instead of quicksort()
leothekim 7y ago
"XYZ considered harmful" is the other one I see in various papers and online posts. Boy does that one get mileage. https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html If only that were titled "'Considered Harmful': Considered Harmful".
- ljm 7y ago
  ‘Considered Harmful’ considered harmful: or how I learned to stop worrying and love the contrived title. Another format I see maybe a little too much
  - DominikPeters 7y ago
    There's also The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Colons.
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  I don't think those 'considered harmful papers' are actually computer science papers though? Things like 'Go To Statement Considered Harmful' were magazine articles rather than papers.
  - ncmncm 7y ago
    It was more like a letter to the editor. But the editor invented the title. Probably should have been "considered as harmful". We would all be better off today.
  - wyldfire 7y ago
    IIRC "Communications of the ACM" isn't a scientific journal but it's not exactly light reading either. See also, my earlier comment from a recent post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19961776 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19961776
wyldfire 7y ago
An English teacher that I had around ~20 years ago told the class that there were studies that considered the effect of a colon in the title alone and they suggested that having a colon in your title resulted in a better grade for your paper. As a result, I generally take a second or two to write a title that works as phrases separated by a colon. I'll assume I've reaped some ever-so-mild benefit in my career. ;)
- cgriswald 7y ago
  I wonder if more colons in the title improves grades further: "The Broadcast MAC Address: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF" Edit: On second thought, I think there might be some secondary psychological effects with that title that might harm the grade after all.
mannykannot 7y ago
Right now, 6 of the 30 headlines on the HN front page contain colons.
webwielder2 7y ago
https://www.theonion.com/a-statement-followed-by-a-question-separated-by-a-colon-1819588961 https://www.theonion.com/a-statement-followed-by-a-question-...
leblancfg 7y ago
Minor gripe: that error band needs some tweaking. You can't have negative proportions.
phyzome 7y ago
It must have taken superhuman willpower not to title this "Colons in computer-science paper titles: Threat, or menace?"
- klyrs 7y ago
  Colons in computer-science paper titles: considered unreasonably harmful
bloak 7y ago
At least papers don't have subtitles (I think). When I have to record the title of a book, if there's a colon or a dash in it then I find it hard to know whether it's being used to separate the "title" from the "subtitle". Alternatively, if I know there's a subtitle then I don't know what to do when entering the data into a form that doesn't accept a subtitle. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitle_(titling) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitle_(titling) for more information on this point of pedantry.
- kd0amg 7y ago
  At least papers don't have subtitles (I think). I've seen a few printed as having subtitles, including one with both a colon and a subtitle. http://brrian.org/papers/ecoop2011-javascript-eval.pdf http://brrian.org/papers/ecoop2011-javascript-eval.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.03832.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.03832.pdf https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Papers/Published/pmmwplck-python-full-monty/paper.pdf https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Papers/Published/pmmwp...
GGfpc 7y ago
A lot of the most recent titles featuring colons aren't the type "Proposition: Question?". Most of the papers I read with colons in the title are similar to "Project Name: Project Description"
joker3 7y ago
Somebody ought to do a breakdown by subfield.

40 points by mjn 7y ago

shoo 7y ago

based on "bad extrapolation of trends by eye": we should expect to hit saturation point with a proportion of 1.0 cs papers containing colons by 2180. this leaves directions for future research: "Colons in paper-titles: are other characters even necessary?"

jaclaz 7y ago
>"Colons in paper-titles: are other characters even necessary?" Of course: question marks, but are smiley making characters also needed ;-)?
mjn 7y ago
It seemed too frivolous to include in the blog post (I'm the author), but I fit an exponential to the last 10 years for Twitter consumption, which predicts 100% colon titles as early as 2050: https://twitter.com/mm_jj_nn/status/1055555513658810368 https://twitter.com/mm_jj_nn/status/1055555513658810368

ape4 7y ago

Next time I am going to write algorithm64() instead of quicksort()

leothekim 7y ago

"XYZ considered harmful" is the other one I see in various papers and online posts. Boy does that one get mileage. https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html https://meyerweb.com/eric/comment/chech.html If only that were titled "'Considered Harmful': Considered Harmful".

ljm 7y ago
‘Considered Harmful’ considered harmful: or how I learned to stop worrying and love the contrived title. Another format I see maybe a little too much
- DominikPeters 7y ago
  There's also The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Colons.
chrisseaton 7y ago
I don't think those 'considered harmful papers' are actually computer science papers though? Things like 'Go To Statement Considered Harmful' were magazine articles rather than papers.
- ncmncm 7y ago
  It was more like a letter to the editor. But the editor invented the title. Probably should have been "considered as harmful". We would all be better off today.
- wyldfire 7y ago
  IIRC "Communications of the ACM" isn't a scientific journal but it's not exactly light reading either. See also, my earlier comment from a recent post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19961776 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19961776

wyldfire 7y ago

An English teacher that I had around ~20 years ago told the class that there were studies that considered the effect of a colon in the title alone and they suggested that having a colon in your title resulted in a better grade for your paper. As a result, I generally take a second or two to write a title that works as phrases separated by a colon. I'll assume I've reaped some ever-so-mild benefit in my career. ;)

cgriswald 7y ago
I wonder if more colons in the title improves grades further: "The Broadcast MAC Address: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF" Edit: On second thought, I think there might be some secondary psychological effects with that title that might harm the grade after all.

mannykannot 7y ago

Right now, 6 of the 30 headlines on the HN front page contain colons.

webwielder2 7y ago

https://www.theonion.com/a-statement-followed-by-a-question-separated-by-a-colon-1819588961 https://www.theonion.com/a-statement-followed-by-a-question-...

leblancfg 7y ago

Minor gripe: that error band needs some tweaking. You can't have negative proportions.

phyzome 7y ago

It must have taken superhuman willpower not to title this "Colons in computer-science paper titles: Threat, or menace?"

klyrs 7y ago
Colons in computer-science paper titles: considered unreasonably harmful

bloak 7y ago

At least papers don't have subtitles (I think). When I have to record the title of a book, if there's a colon or a dash in it then I find it hard to know whether it's being used to separate the "title" from the "subtitle". Alternatively, if I know there's a subtitle then I don't know what to do when entering the data into a form that doesn't accept a subtitle. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitle_(titling) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitle_(titling) for more information on this point of pedantry.

kd0amg 7y ago
At least papers don't have subtitles (I think). I've seen a few printed as having subtitles, including one with both a colon and a subtitle. http://brrian.org/papers/ecoop2011-javascript-eval.pdf http://brrian.org/papers/ecoop2011-javascript-eval.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.03832.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.03832.pdf https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Papers/Published/pmmwplck-python-full-monty/paper.pdf https://cs.brown.edu/~sk/Publications/Papers/Published/pmmwp...

GGfpc 7y ago

A lot of the most recent titles featuring colons aren't the type "Proposition: Question?". Most of the papers I read with colons in the title are similar to "Project Name: Project Description"

joker3 7y ago

Somebody ought to do a breakdown by subfield.