Apple has joined the trend for companies and projects to replace the racially charged language that was previously used to describe elements of software development.
Similar to the new inclusive style guide for the Linux kernel project, Apple’s new coding terminology reflects its efforts to remove and replace non-inclusive language in Xcode, platform APIs, documentation, and open source projects.
Obvious changes to the style guide include avoiding words like blacklisting and whitelisting and moving towards alternatives like ‘allowed list’ and ‘deny list’. The push for an inclusive language will also have an impact on development tools, as Apple despises programming interfaces that contain exclusion terms.
SEE: Diversity and inclusion policy (TechRepublic Premium)
“Developer APIs with exclusion terms will be deprecated as we introduce overrides to internal code bases, public APIs, and open source projects such as WebKit and Swift,” explains Apple.
“We encourage you to closely monitor the disapproval warnings in your code bases and proactively move to the latest APIs available in the platform SDKs.”
Apple states that developers do not use master / slave to describe the relationship between two devices or processes. Microsoft’s GitHub is also replacing the term “master” in their service with a neutral term like “primary”.
“Instead, use a context-appropriate alternative, such as secondary primary, primary / replica, primary / secondaryor host / client“Apple says.
There is an exception to the use of the terms blacklist and whitelist: if any of them is used in the code being documented and the code cannot be changed, developers must display a code example to make clear what the users must login. Developers should also use alternative terms in the documentation.
SEE: Linux kernel developers – This new style of BLM encoding avoids words like blacklisting
Apple has even changed its previous use of “fair language” in the guide to “inclusive language”.
“Remember that the people who use Apple products reflect the diversity of the world at large. Consciously write to include everyone and avoid cultural stereotypes and prejudices,” Apple explains.
More tech companies have taken steps to adopt more inclusive language in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
