Craeg Strong wrote: > It seems the word "Principal" is ubiquitous in security-related > software: see > > Microsoft dot Net Principal [1] > java.security.Principal > Kerberos [2] > GSS API > > [1] > http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemsecurityprincipal.asp > > [2] > http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/krb5-1.4/krb5-1.4.2/doc/krb5-user/What-is-a-Kerberos-Principal-.html > > > There are lots of other examples of its use. Just do a google search for > "security principal"
Yes, thank you. I obviously should have done that before writing the email. The idea came to me spontaneously while talking on IRC. So did the constructive proposal regarding the new name. I still like it, but I agree that well-established terminology is very important. I just wonder how well-established "principal" really is (yeah, I know, J2EE and .NET are pretty big establishments). My biggest argument was that the understanding of a word is closely connected to suitable and appropriate translations of it. So, my question is, if big projects like J2EE and .NET have it, how do they translate it? A quick google (I did it this time! ;)) showed that a German translation doesn't seem to exist -- the English word is quoted all the time. So, in the end, it means as much to a German person as Fahrvergnügen*) means to an English speaker.. > I think we should be careful before departing from common terms for API > concepts lest we violate the > "principle of least surprise" ;-) I agree; however, one should question even well-established terms once in a while. We've had a good year or two experimenting with the acceptance of "principal". I wonder what people think; at least noone here stood up for "principal" because he believed that this term really fits the concept... (because it doesn't; the word denotes the headmaster of an American school :)) Philipp *) Fahrvergnügen (German: joy of driving) was a slogan used by Volkswagen in US commercials some time ago; the word is an American colloquialism now, but generally unknown in its meaning. _______________________________________________ Zope3-dev mailing list Zope3-dev@zope.org Unsub: http://mail.zope.org/mailman/options/zope3-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com