Twitter and JPMorgan are removing 'master,' 'slave' and 'blacklist' from their code
Twitter and JPMorgan are removing 'master,' 'slave' and 'blacklist' from their code
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/03/tech/twitter-jpmorgan-slave-master-coding/index.html
The language of computing is changing in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Twitter is dropping the terms "master," "slave" and "blacklist" from its code after two engineers lobbied for the use of more inclusive programming language. America's biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), is taking similar steps.
"Words matter," Michael Montano, the head of Twitter's engineering team, said in a tweet on Thursday. "We are committed to adopting inclusive language in our code, configuration, documentation and beyond."
SNIP
At Twitter (TWTR), "master" and "slave" will become "leader" and "follower" or "primary" and "replica," while "blacklist" will become "denylist."
"Master" and "slave" refer to one process in the code that controls another, while "blacklist" describes a list of items that are automatically blocked, such as forbidden IP addresses.
Black Lives Matter movement, which is forcing companies to reckon with discrimination and the treatment of Black employees following Floyd's death.
JPMorgan Chase will also remove "master," "slave," and "blacklist" from its internal materials and code. The news was first reported by Reuters and the BBC.
The effort at Twitter was spearheaded by engineers Regynald Augustin and Kevin Oliver.
SNIP
The list of words that will start to be swapped out which Twitter said is not exhaustive also includes "grandfathered," which will become "legacy status," and "dummy value," which will become "placeholder value" or "sample value."