[Taxacom] Is "deprecation" a taxonomic term or informatics jargon has crept into taxonomic literature?

[Peter Rauch]

I recall the term "deprecated" used wrt taxonomy (names) long before the term became common in computer programming parlance.

However, I do not believe that the use of the term in computer programming got borrowed from its use in taxonomy; that programming use (applied to programming language syntax changes) preceded any attention that the programming/informatics crowd had given to biological taxonomy. 

And, the use of the term which is now found frequently in wikipedia (and other fora), where it now describes the fate of I.T.-created terminology indeed related to the taxonomic I.T. enterprise, came directly from the computer programming bailiwick (familiarity with the term by IT folks who had programming backgrounds), not from the bio-tax. world.

This is my impression from 45 years of recolletions of the evolution in all three fields of endeavor, to which I had been paying some attention. I can't document / verify / validate my impressions with precision --they're just imperfect memories rusted by age. So, anyone with alternative recollections is welcome to toss them into the pot.

Peter


At 00:51 11/08/20, Paul wrote:
>From: "Dan Lahr" <daniel.lahr at gmail.com>
>Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 7:40 PM
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Out of curiosity, I've incidentally noticed the use of this term in
>> wikipedia as a description for names that are not anymore in use (one
>> example is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homoptera another is
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannanosaurus and check out the search
>> result for deprecated+genus
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=deprecated+genus).
>>
>> I do not believe having ever read this term in "off-line" taxonomic
>> literature.  Intriguingly, the definition of the term in wikipedia
>> itself is centered around obsolescence of software.
>>
>> My question is could it be that informatics jargon is already creeping
>> into the taxonomic thinking and literature (yes I do consider online
>> material literature) or is this an isolated incident?  If this is not
>> an accident, how prepared are we to deal with the merging of
>> jargon/meanings/semantics from both worlds?
>
>***
>A quick Google search suggests that the use of "deprecated" in a taxonomic
>context is strongly tied to Wikipedia. I suppose this ties in with two
>phenomena that are natural to the 'Wikipedian', namely
>1) to treat everything that is not nailed down otherwise as a software
>project and
>2) to express an opinion ('This is the Truth') wherever there is room to do
>so.
>
>If this will remain limited to Wikipedia, well, who can say? The first
>question is whether it will spread online.
>
>Paul