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Let's say you had a database based application and a feature to remove a subset of records. You wouldn't call that feature any variant of "ethnic clensing", "ge
by elsjaako 6y ago
Let's say you had a database based application and a feature to remove a subset of records. You wouldn't call that feature any variant of "ethnic clensing", "genocide" or "Holocaust", no matter how descriptive those terms were for your specific function.
Slavery was really bad, and for that reason shouln't be used as a description.
There are always alternatives, like "leader and follower"
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- xupybd 6y agoWe use terms like demon, basically a personification of evil.
- XorNot 6y agoAnd we'll stop in the event of the demonic invasion of Earth, but Doom 2 remains just a video game.
- kgwgk 6y agoThe origin of the term is not so evil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing)#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing)#Etymology
- dijit 6y agoBut we don't seem to care about origins of words, Master itself didn't mean slave owner until late in the 17th century.
- rad_gruchalski 6y agoDemon, also spelled daemon, Classical Greek daimon, in Greek religion, a supernatural power. In Homer the term is used almost interchangeably with theos for a god. The distinction there is that theos emphasizes the personality of the god, and demon his activity.
- pixelpoet 6y agoApparently copyright infringement is also tantamount to raping and pillaging on the high seas (piracy).
- llimos 6y agoActually, we do call it a "purge". That's not a word without connotations. We also kill child processes. No-one's had a problem with that till now. Sometimes a metaphor is just a metaphor.
- Minor49er 6y agoThese aren't metaphors, though. For example, a "parent process" uses the term "parent" that's defined as "a source or origin of a smaller or less important part," not "a father or mother," or one of the other half-dozen definitions
- llimos 6y ago"Kill" is definitely a metaphor. A more literal phrase would be "force stop".
- Minor49er 6y agoOne of the definitions of "kill" is "to put an end to or cause the failure or defeat of (something)." This is not a metaphor either.
- IshKebab 6y agoOne of the definitions of "slave" is "A device (such as a secondary flash or hard drive) that is subject to the control of another". Is that not a metaphor either?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- viraptor 6y ago> There are always alternatives, like "leader and follower" Which is a worse analogy, because "following" is a choice and doesn't have to be strict, unlike slave (execute commands or get killed).
- elsjaako 6y agoThere is no need for the metaphor to be perfect. It should make clear what each device/process/whatever does without confusing people. The exact details aren't that important, understanding the roles is. On my computer I can open a folder twice without closing it. I can't open a physical folder twice without closing. With a race condition, no one cares if both processes started at the same time. That's not an important part of the analogy. Even your point about killing doesn't really fit with the metaphor. Historically, whipping would be the most common punishment. I do agree with your idea that the metaphor has to be clear. Modbus replace master/slave with client/server, which tends to confuse people used to the old analogy. It's not ideal, but neither is referring back to that time we could trade people.