Slashdot Mirror
Python Joins Movement To Dump 'Offensive' Master, Slave Terms (theregister.co.uk)
Python creator Guido van Rossum retired in July, but he's been pulled back in to resolve a debate about politically incorrect language. The Register reports: Like other open source communities, Python's minders have been asked whether they really want to continue using the terms "master" and "slave" to describe technical operations and relationships, given that the words remind some people of America's peculiar institution, a historical legacy that fires political passions to this day. Last week Victor Stinner, a Python developer who works for Red Hat, published four pull requests seeking to change "master" and "slave" in Python documentation and code to terms like "parent," "worker," or something similarly anodyne. "For diversity reasons, it would be nice to try to avoid 'master' and 'slave' terminology which can be associated to slavery," he explained in his bug report, noting that there have been complaints but they've been filed privately -- presumably to avoid being dragged into a fractious flame war. And when Python 3.8 is released, there will be fewer instances of these terms.
"Gru" and "Minion"
The terms are needlessly evocative. I propose we use "dom/sub" instead
Well thatth thertainly offenthive!
I think they should use bourgeois and prole instead.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
So what about people who are unable to have children, will they get offended by references to 'parent'?
I suggest the terms "coordinator" and "volunteer".
excuse me, I have children to kill.
master -> snake charmer
slave -> python
Fuck it, lets just burn all the computers and go back to using bows and arrows, and hunting in the woods.....
Shit, the Butlerian Jihad is coming sooner than we thought (and for more inane reasons!).
I'd suggest you check your colon, but you were clearly in the middle of a direct visual inspection when you wrote that.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Well, normally the parent is expected to destroy all their children first, then die themselves. Can't have orphan processes running around your system... So we probably shouldn't use parent/child either for the analogy. Maybe manager/worker? Then we can think layoffs. :^)
Also as a person from a nation that was ruled by hungarian kingdoms (and later the austro-hungarian empire) for a 1000 years including attempts at hungarization I am strongly offended by "hungarian notation".
Dude, we're all offended by hungarian notation!
The same year, Django traded "master" and "slave" for "leader" and "follower."
Or, in its German translation, Fuehrer and AnhÃnger, but the latter can also mean "trailer" so we'll use a more people-specific term, Volk. Fuehrer and Volk, that's it, no-one will be offended by that. It's a good thing there's such a rich (in German, "Reich") set of words to choose from for Django: Fuehrer, Volk, und Reich.
After I posted this I realised what the real problem is, and how to fix it: Every term you want to use contains connotations of control over something, e.g. A controlling B (master/slave, whatever). No matter what terms you use, in some language or some culture it'll upset someone.
With one exception: There is a specific term for which the controlled not only don't mind, but actively seek it. That's "dom" and "sub". So I think Python should replace all occurrences of "master" and "slave" with "dom" and "sub". And then sit back while the SJWs come up with something else to be offended by, perhaps the blatantly pornographic nature of the letter "B" or the subtly suggestive "J".