In case you (the reader, not expr@programming.dev who I’m sure is old enough :P) were born after 9/11:
I understand WHY it’s named this way, from a technology point of view. The first drive on the IDE cable is the only one that uses its controller. The other drives disable their own controller and blindly follow the Master drive.
That being said, when I was learning this in the 90s it was seen as a problematic phrase… but it was the terminology of the field so you had to learn/use it.
We call it main in 2025
Nope, we call it master. The hand-wringing over the name was and still is absolutely asinine.
In case you (the reader, not expr@programming.dev who I’m sure is old enough :P) were born after 9/11:
I understand WHY it’s named this way, from a technology point of view. The first drive on the IDE cable is the only one that uses its controller. The other drives disable their own controller and blindly follow the Master drive.
Engineering calls these kind of relationships Master/Slave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master–slave_(technology)
That being said, when I was learning this in the 90s it was seen as a problematic phrase… but it was the terminology of the field so you had to learn/use it.
Ok boomer