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Master/Slave nomenclature is considered "problematic language" (because it harks back to slavery), and thus often replaced with more PC language these days. My

Master/Slave nomenclature is considered "problematic language" (because it harks back to slavery), and thus often replaced with more PC language these days. My organization had a whole "fix this nomenclature throughout the whole codebase" week (things like "black-/whitelist, master/slave, ....)

s3tz 5y ago
Fine, but at least make it consistent then. GitHub uses "main" and now this uses "primary", next someone will use "base" and I'm not sure at all how this is better in any way.
- bschne 5y ago
  That's hardly in the hands of any one developer to make consistent, and it was hardly entirely consistent before. As long as it makes sense in the context of a given project...
  - handrous 5y ago
    In the context of a master password, it doesn't make sense to change it. It's analogous (closely, but not perfectly) to "master key", a term which non-nerds may be familiar with from the world of physical keys (and which term, in that context, isn't going anywhere, in part because, as with this one, there's no reason whatsoever for it to) so gave normal folks a better handle on what it means and how to use the software.
- post-it 5y ago
  There's no reason they should be consistent. Different git hosts, sure, but a master branch and master password have nothing in common but the name (which is now different).
- foresto 5y ago
  > GitHub uses "main" Amid the currently fashionable trend of language culling, I was mildly surprised to find myself agreeing with this particular change: In git, I think "main" is a better choice than "master", because it more accurately and succinctly reflects the intent. (In general, though, I think the trend is misguided and counterproductive.)
peoplefromibiza 5y ago
the word "master" predates american slavery (apparently the only slavery people care about) blacklist predates black people being enslaved in America. It's PC war on words that distorted their original meaning.
- 542458 5y ago
  The word fa***t predates it’s use as a slur for homosexuals, but I don’t think anybody reasonable would argue that it’s not commonly perceived as an offensive term. These are obviously different degrees of subjective “offensiveness”, but my point is that people don’t sit down and work out the etymology before deciding if something makes them feel bad.
  - peoplefromibiza 5y ago
    master has never been a slur, it was never meant to mean insult, it is an honorific title. A "glass masters of Murano" makes beautiful art with glass, because he's a master in that craft. Doesn't matter if the word has been distorted to mean something bad for a brief period of human history. Slave is the offending word, not master. We should have master branch or master database, but secondary branch and secondary database, instead of "slave" ones.
  - blueflow 5y ago
    I call my ex-bf sometimes faggot, and he laughs because he knows well that *I* have zero grounds to call *HIM* that. And given the stuff that was between us, i don't get why i should let other people tell us whether we should be offended by that word or not.
  - ajsnigrutin 5y ago
    Snowflake is an insulting term for overly sensitive SJWs... but it's also a word for an actual snowflake. No matter how offensive it is to someone, we still need a word for literal snowflakes falling from the clouds.
    - slantyyz 5y ago
mdp2021 5y ago
'Master' is not counterpart to 'slave', it is counterpart to 'inferior'. 'Master' is "greater" (ex 'magis'), vs "lesser". The most resounding example is fitting: «Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas». It is an ___extreme___ problem if somebody now thought [I change the tense out of refusal] that the term 'master' should not be used, especially if the perverse excuse were that someone used it in a way that makes somebody uncomfortable. Following an old proverb, reportedly from or nobilitated by Cervantes, you are invited "not to mention the rope in the house of the hanged". But never in history, to the best of my knowledge, someone ever advanced the idea that given that people had been hanged, the term 'rope' should stop being used at all. The term 'master' is innocent. And it has close to fullest right to be part of the language. And there is a further matter of care given these desperate times in history: suspicion that a war against the semantic of "master" could be involved, given the many raising voices making all individuals equivalent in intellect, preparation and judgement, in the area of Asimov's warning: «The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge"»
- trangus_1985 5y ago
  >The term 'master' is innocent. And it has close to fullest right to be part of the language. Meanwhile, here in the good ol' USA, we might have mucked up that elegant latin lesson a little bit [0] 0 - http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/text6read.htm http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/tex...
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    I see, but if you take a term like 'bunny'* and then for some reason it becomes - I don't know - a sensational sexual innuendo in south Boston or the whole of the continent, it is not a fault of 'bunny', and one cannot expect that others in Anywheristan start having problems with 'bunny' out of somebody's folly. * the first term I could think of, probably as I am writing from a field having plenty of them nearby.
tom7 5y ago
Your organization is obviously retarded. Tell you HR people to stop telling IT people how to do their jobs.
gsich 5y ago
except master of science and other relevant studies.

s3tz 5y ago

Fine, but at least make it consistent then. GitHub uses "main" and now this uses "primary", next someone will use "base" and I'm not sure at all how this is better in any way.

bschne 5y ago
That's hardly in the hands of any one developer to make consistent, and it was hardly entirely consistent before. As long as it makes sense in the context of a given project...
- handrous 5y ago
  In the context of a master password, it doesn't make sense to change it. It's analogous (closely, but not perfectly) to "master key", a term which non-nerds may be familiar with from the world of physical keys (and which term, in that context, isn't going anywhere, in part because, as with this one, there's no reason whatsoever for it to) so gave normal folks a better handle on what it means and how to use the software.
post-it 5y ago
There's no reason they should be consistent. Different git hosts, sure, but a master branch and master password have nothing in common but the name (which is now different).
foresto 5y ago
> GitHub uses "main" Amid the currently fashionable trend of language culling, I was mildly surprised to find myself agreeing with this particular change: In git, I think "main" is a better choice than "master", because it more accurately and succinctly reflects the intent. (In general, though, I think the trend is misguided and counterproductive.)

peoplefromibiza 5y ago

the word "master" predates american slavery (apparently the only slavery people care about) blacklist predates black people being enslaved in America. It's PC war on words that distorted their original meaning.

542458 5y ago
The word fa***t predates it’s use as a slur for homosexuals, but I don’t think anybody reasonable would argue that it’s not commonly perceived as an offensive term. These are obviously different degrees of subjective “offensiveness”, but my point is that people don’t sit down and work out the etymology before deciding if something makes them feel bad.
- peoplefromibiza 5y ago
  master has never been a slur, it was never meant to mean insult, it is an honorific title. A "glass masters of Murano" makes beautiful art with glass, because he's a master in that craft. Doesn't matter if the word has been distorted to mean something bad for a brief period of human history. Slave is the offending word, not master. We should have master branch or master database, but secondary branch and secondary database, instead of "slave" ones.
- blueflow 5y ago
  I call my ex-bf sometimes faggot, and he laughs because he knows well that *I* have zero grounds to call *HIM* that. And given the stuff that was between us, i don't get why i should let other people tell us whether we should be offended by that word or not.
- ajsnigrutin 5y ago
  Snowflake is an insulting term for overly sensitive SJWs... but it's also a word for an actual snowflake. No matter how offensive it is to someone, we still need a word for literal snowflakes falling from the clouds.
  - slantyyz 5y ago

mdp2021 5y ago

'Master' is not counterpart to 'slave', it is counterpart to 'inferior'. 'Master' is "greater" (ex 'magis'), vs "lesser". The most resounding example is fitting: «Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas». It is an ___extreme___ problem if somebody now thought [I change the tense out of refusal] that the term 'master' should not be used, especially if the perverse excuse were that someone used it in a way that makes somebody uncomfortable. Following an old proverb, reportedly from or nobilitated by Cervantes, you are invited "not to mention the rope in the house of the hanged". But never in history, to the best of my knowledge, someone ever advanced the idea that given that people had been hanged, the term 'rope' should stop being used at all. The term 'master' is innocent. And it has close to fullest right to be part of the language. And there is a further matter of care given these desperate times in history: suspicion that a war against the semantic of "master" could be involved, given the many raising voices making all individuals equivalent in intellect, preparation and judgement, in the area of Asimov's warning: «The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge"»

trangus_1985 5y ago
>The term 'master' is innocent. And it has close to fullest right to be part of the language. Meanwhile, here in the good ol' USA, we might have mucked up that elegant latin lesson a little bit [0] 0 - http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/text6read.htm http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/tex...
- mdp2021 5y ago
  I see, but if you take a term like 'bunny'* and then for some reason it becomes - I don't know - a sensational sexual innuendo in south Boston or the whole of the continent, it is not a fault of 'bunny', and one cannot expect that others in Anywheristan start having problems with 'bunny' out of somebody's folly. * the first term I could think of, probably as I am writing from a field having plenty of them nearby.

tom7 5y ago

Your organization is obviously retarded. Tell you HR people to stop telling IT people how to do their jobs.

gsich 5y ago

except master of science and other relevant studies.