[Zope3-dev] RFC: Rename "principal" to "participant"

[Craeg Strong]

>I just wonder how well-established "principal" really is (yeah, I know, J2EE and .NET
>are pretty big establishments).
>  
>
Actually they borrowed the word from security systems that predate them 
such as Kerberos.
I think Kerberos again borrowed the term from security software dating 
back from Mainframe days.
Here is an early reference I found (1993) that makes heavy use of that term:

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1508.txt

>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..
>  
>
Agreed.  I think using the English word would be fine.

>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 :))
>  
>
I agree about questioning things, that's the best way (and maybe the 
only way) good ideas happen :-)
However I think the term "principal" has a meaning that is much more 
broad.  Check out the dictionary.com
definition, esp. under the "Law" heading:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=principal

I think this term did not originate with security software, rather from 
law and finance.
This is how I recognized it when I first heard it applied in high tech.  
We borrow words like this all the
time, for example talking about performing "triage" (a word borrowed 
from medicine).

All this having been said, I still think it would be OK to use a 
different word for different audiences.
Programmers and System Administrators should understand "Principal" but 
I would never
expect regular end users to use it.  For them, I would probably use 
"User" or "Login" depending on
the context of the conversation.

hope this helps,

--Craeg