By contrast, the listicle that you would read today, written by a college student for some mid-tier “technical news” outlet, would eschew any meaningful reflect

By contrast, the listicle that you would read today, written by a college student for some mid-tier “technical news” outlet, would eschew any meaningful reflection on the history of software engineering. It would be required to be too short to actually contain a fully realized argument in order to make room for mobile friendly adverts.