3 ms·
I read a gitlab blog[0] where they mention that "master" comes from bitkeeper where there was a master repository and slave repositories. It does make one wond
by el_oni 5y ago
I read a gitlab blog[0] where they mention that "master" comes from bitkeeper where there was a master repository and slave repositories.
It does make one wonder, if there was more diversity in CS when these things were being made whether "master-slave" analogies would have made it in or whether other analogies like "parent-child", "major-minor", "leader-follower" or similar would have made it in.
[0] https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2021/03/10/new-git-default-branch-name/ https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2021/03/10/new-git-default-bra...
- orangepanda 5y ago"Out of memory: Sacrificing child" does sound vaguely better than "Out of memory: Sacrificing slave"
- bonzini 5y agoIt's actually a coincidence: see https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2020-June/msg00023.html https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2020-June... In the end it doesn't really matter once the word has gotten tainted. It's still ugly that incorrect deductions spread so quickly and corrections don't.
- bakul 5y agoThe master-slave terminology is used outside of CS as well. For example in EE we have master-slave edge-triggered D or JK flip-flops. I don’t feel strongly either way about such word use but I am fine with renaming them too. The fact that such change is so triggering to some people is strange!