5 ms·

Serious question - if the word "master" is now bad, even in cases where the term "slave" is absent, shouldn't we be renaming the "Master's" degree? I don't full

Serious question - if the word "master" is now bad, even in cases where the term "slave" is absent, shouldn't we be renaming the "Master's" degree? I don't fully understand all the nuance here.

monkeybutton 6y ago
The same meaning as saying someone is a master of their craft?
- edoceo 6y ago
  Arent master of craft and master bits same/similar? And what about the name Owner for things? I'm in favour of these moves but they feel like empty gestures to me.
  - j4nt4b 6y ago
    That's a good question for pet owners who come on high-handed about animal rights: "So if your pet is a person, why does it need an owner?"
    - edoceo 6y ago
      When my cat was still alive I called myself "cat daddy" - but mostly because of jazz & jazz cabbage
- ithkuil 6y ago
  That's what happens when latin disappears from the default baggage of an educated person and you can no longer recognize etymologies: master comes from magister (teacher). The owner of slaves was the dominus (which begat words like domain etc)
  - acephal 6y ago
    As well as Don and Doña
    - ithkuil 6y ago
      Yea. Like the italian "donna", which now means just "woman" (neutral, no honorifics) While we're at that: Ma,am -> madam -> ma dame -> mea domina (my mistress)
DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
The terminology for repositories is rooted in master/slave relationships, even if we no longer use the "slave" part. The "master" in "master's degree" indicates that you have mastered a topic, and the terminology comes instead from the master/apprentice relationships. Totally different background. Edit: I provided it in child comments, but support for my claims is available here: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...
- twic 6y ago
  > The terminology for repositories is rooted in master/slave relationships Citation needed, i think. I assume it's rooted in the idea of a master copy.
  - DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
    A "master copy" is final — it is not mutable. The argument that the "master" in repository branches comes from the same terminology requires a sufficiently flexible definition of "master" that I find the claim suspect. On the other hand, consider the fact that in most VCS workflows the alternate branches essentially report to the master branch by periodically merging with it. This is similar to the master/slave terminology in use with disk drive configurations. Edit: A source for support here: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...
- seibelj 6y ago
  Are you sure? I have never heard that repo branches were originally called slaves.
  - DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
    Git was meant to replace BitKeeper, which explicitly used master/slave terminology: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...
intortus 6y ago
I don't know about you, but I push to main far more often than I refer to my degree.

Serious question - if the word "master" is now bad, even in cases where the term "slave" is absent, shouldn't we be renaming the "Master's" degree? I don't fully understand all the nuance here.

monkeybutton 6y ago

The same meaning as saying someone is a master of their craft?

edoceo 6y ago
Arent master of craft and master bits same/similar? And what about the name Owner for things? I'm in favour of these moves but they feel like empty gestures to me.
- j4nt4b 6y ago
  That's a good question for pet owners who come on high-handed about animal rights: "So if your pet is a person, why does it need an owner?"
  - edoceo 6y ago
    When my cat was still alive I called myself "cat daddy" - but mostly because of jazz & jazz cabbage
ithkuil 6y ago
That's what happens when latin disappears from the default baggage of an educated person and you can no longer recognize etymologies: master comes from magister (teacher). The owner of slaves was the dominus (which begat words like domain etc)
- acephal 6y ago
  As well as Don and Doña
  - ithkuil 6y ago
    Yea. Like the italian "donna", which now means just "woman" (neutral, no honorifics) While we're at that: Ma,am -> madam -> ma dame -> mea domina (my mistress)

DonaldPShimoda 6y ago

The terminology for repositories is rooted in master/slave relationships, even if we no longer use the "slave" part. The "master" in "master's degree" indicates that you have mastered a topic, and the terminology comes instead from the master/apprentice relationships. Totally different background. Edit: I provided it in child comments, but support for my claims is available here: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...

twic 6y ago
> The terminology for repositories is rooted in master/slave relationships Citation needed, i think. I assume it's rooted in the idea of a master copy.
- DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
  A "master copy" is final — it is not mutable. The argument that the "master" in repository branches comes from the same terminology requires a sufficiently flexible definition of "master" that I find the claim suspect. On the other hand, consider the fact that in most VCS workflows the alternate branches essentially report to the master branch by periodically merging with it. This is similar to the master/slave terminology in use with disk drive configurations. Edit: A source for support here: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...
seibelj 6y ago
Are you sure? I have never heard that repo branches were originally called slaves.
- DonaldPShimoda 6y ago
  Git was meant to replace BitKeeper, which explicitly used master/slave terminology: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/msg00066.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2019-May/...

intortus 6y ago

I don't know about you, but I push to main far more often than I refer to my degree.