Cri de Coeur By Deane Barker • April 14, 2024 • Definition: a passionate appeal or protest This is literal French for “cry from the heart.” Why I Looked It Up From The Shallows: In addition to being a learned treatise on the workings of computers and software, Weizenbaum’s book was a cri de coeur, a computer programmer’s passionate and at times self-righteous examination of the limits of his profession.