Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the PEP which you have just transmitted about the inconsiderateness of spam. Many of my best friends are horned Vikings, and only a few of them are animal torturers. Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Andrew Barnert, OBE, retired, Mrs.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 31, 2020, at 10:21, Gerrit Holl <gerrit.holl@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> (needs a sponsor)
>
> latest version at
> https://github.com/gerritholl/peps/blob/animal-friendly/pep-9999.rst
>
> PEP: 9999
> Title: Retire animal-unfriendly language
> Author: Gerrit Holl <gerrit.holl@gmail.com>
> Discussions-To: python-ideas@python.org
> Status: Draft
> Type: Informational
> Content-Type: text/x-rst
> Created: 01-Apr-2020
> Post-History: 01-Apr-2020
> Sponsor:
>
>
> Abstract
> ========
>
> Python has long used metasyntactic variables that are based on the
> consumption of meat and dairy products, such as "spam", "ham", and
> "eggs".
> This language is not considerate to pigs or chicken and violates the
> spirit of the Code of Conduct.  This PEP proposes to retire the use
> of those names in official Python documentation and source code and to
> recommend users of Python to do the same.
>
>
> Motivation and Rationale
> ========================
>
> Estimates for the number of animals slaughtered for meat every year
> vary, but `worldindata`_ estimates around 80 billion individuals.
> Farmed animals are often kept in small cages with little to no access
> to daylight, suffer stress during life and slaughter, or are otherwise
> systematically mistreated.
>
> The `Python Code of Conduct`_ describes that community members are
> open, considerate, and respectful.  The Python standard library and
> documentation contain numerous references to meat or dairy based food
> products that are not respectful to our fellow inhabitants of planet
> Earth.  Examples include "spam", "bacon", and "eggs".
>
> To align the language use in the standard library and documentation
> with
> the Code of Conduct, use of such language should be retired.
>
>
> Current practice
> ================
>
> There is a widespread tradition in the Python standard library, the
> documentation, and the wider community, to include references to Monty
> Pythons Flying Circus.  The use of "spam", "bacon", "sausage", and
> "eggs" can be traced back to the `"Spam" sketch`_ originally broadcast
> by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 8 September 1972.
> In this sketch, a couple are trying to order food in a diner where all
> items contain spam.  The woman does not like spam and wants to order
> food without spam.  A group of horned vikings then sing about the
> wonderful spam.
>
> To get an overview of the usage in the current standard library, the
> command ``cat $(find . -name '*.py') | grep -oi term | wc -l`` was
> used.
> This showed 2615 occurences for spam, 593 for ham (this include some
> false positives, among other reasons due to references to people whose
> name innociously contains the substring ham), 517 for eggs, 57 for
> bacon,
> and 10 for sausage.  Searching ``*.rst`` in the documentation revealed
> 391 occurrences for spam, 82 for ham, 96 for eggs, 28 for bacon, and
> 10 for sausage.  The source code for cpython revealed just 2 usages
> for
> spam and 1 for eggs.
>
> Proposed alternatives
> =====================
>
> Keeping with the good practice of referencing sketches from Monty
> Python's
> Flying Circus, this PEP proposes to adopt the fruits mentioned in the
> `"Self-Defence Against Fresh Fruit" sketch`_:
>
> * raspberry (not currently in use)
> * banana  (68 times in standard library)
> * apricot (not currently in use)
> * pineapple (8 times in standard library)
> * peach (once in standard library)
> * redcurrant (not currently in use)
> * damson (not currently in use)
> * prune (23 times in standard library)
>
> Other possible alternatives keeping with food items:
>
> * salad (occurs once in standard library)
> * aubergine (referred to in the spam sketch)
> * shallot (the same)
> * tofu (vegan protein alternative)
>
>
> Specification
> =============
>
> For the reasons mentioned in the rationale, all references to meat or
> dairy
> products shall be removed from the Python standard library, the
> documentation,
> and the cpython source code.  The wider Python community is
> recommended to
> follow this practice.  In core Python:
>
> * Programmers SHALL NOT use the metasyntactic variables "spam", "ham",
> "bacon",
>  or "sausage", neither as variable names, nor in example strings, nor
> in
>  documentation.
> * Programmers SHALL NOT use the metasyntactic variable "eggs" in
> context with
>  food items, but may still use it in context of other body parts.
> Prohibited:
>  ``["salad", "eggs"]``.  Allowed: ``["ovaries", "pouch", "eggs"]``.
> * Programmers SHALL NOT use any other metasyntactic variable that is
> unfriendly
>  to animals.
>
> The wider Python community is encouraged to adopt these practices as
> well, but
> the continued use of animal-unfriendly metasyntactic variables will
> not be
> considered a violation of the code of conduct.
>
>
> Rejected ideas
> ==============
>
> The authors carefully considered the widespread use of the word "bug"
> in the meaning of a source code error.  Insects including bugs play
> a crucial role in ecosystems around the world, and it is not fair to
> blame them for an error that can only be the programmer's.  However,
> the use of the word "bug" for a source code error is too much
> ingrained
> into daily use, it far predates the Python community, is not limited
> to
> the Python community, and the word "bug" is less unfriendly than
> "spam",
> "ham", or "bacon".  Therefore, the word "bug" may still be used.
>
>
> Reference Implementation
> ========================
>
> The author promises to provide a reference implementation for Python
> 3.10,
> should this PEP be accepted.
>
>
> References
> ==========
>
> .. _worldindata: https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production
> .. _Python code of conduct: https://www.python.org/psf/conduct/
> .. _"Spam" sketch: http://www.montypython.net/scripts/spam.php
> .. _"Self-Defence Against Fresh Fruit" sketch:
> http://www.montypython.net/scripts/fruit.php
>
>
> Copyright
> =========
>
> This document is placed in the public domain or under the
> CC0-1.0-Universal license, whichever is more permissive.
>
>
>
> ..
>   Local Variables:
>   mode: indented-text
>   indent-tabs-mode: nil
>   sentence-end-double-space: t
>   fill-column: 70
>   coding: utf-8
>   End:
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