Twitter to remove 'Master' & 'Slave' from its code, pushes for more 'inclusive' language

In an unprecedented move, Twitter replaces racially loaded terms such as 'master' and 'slave' from its coding list, after Engineers at the microblogging site called for the use of more inclusive vocabulary and syntax in the programming language. 

Twitter isn't alone in this, JP Morgan, America's largest bank has also decided to take similar steps in the wake of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests following George Floyd's death in the US.

Michael Montano, the head of Twitter's engineering team shared a post with the caption "Words matter", wherein he committed to adopting inclusive language in the platform's coding and documentation.

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While 'Master' and 'Slave' might seem like they have no business being in programming, in coding language, they actually refer to the process of one code controlling the other, enabling it to overdrive when necessary. Even words like 'Blacklist' which denotes something being blocked will be changed.

However, 'master' and 'slave' aren't the only words they've pledged to remove, several users are writing to the team with an alternative list that can be used it its place. A leading international news daily stated that Twitter is considering altering the use of "master" and "slave" and instead use "leader" and "follower" or "primary" and "replica," while "blacklist" will become "denylist."

The initiative was the brainchild of two Twitter engineers Regynald Augustin and Kevin Oliver. Regynald had reportedly tweeted that he was inspired to push for changes after an email reached his team with the line "automatic slave rekick".

Regynald, speaking to a prominent news daily, stated that he infuriated and said: "I've been used to seeing the word 'slave' throughout my education but this was different."

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The list of words to be phased out —according to Twitter is not exhaustive but also includes some peculiar words such as "Grandfathered" which will become "legacy status" and simpler words such as "dummy value", which will, in turn, become either "sample value" or "placeholder value".

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