Tag Archives: backward compatibility

Don’t break users

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Henning Michael Møller Just

There’s a simpler version Dave Winer used at UserLand: No breakage. Basically, don’t change something so that what ran in an older version of your software no longer runs in the new version. Backwards compatibility. Which is something I feel … Continue reading →

Posted in Other | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Deprecation is bit-rot

Posted on Sep 13, 2020 by Henning Michael Møller Just

dep•re•cate: 3. To mark (a component of a software standard) as obsolete to warn against its use in the future so that it may be phased out. bit rot: The inability to access digital data over time. Google has a … Continue reading →

Posted in Development | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Customer-driven

Posted on Jan 27, 2019 by Henning Michael Møller Just

In the story about LiveJournal, there is this: “We were always saying we were fighting for the users, that we would run everything by the community before we did anything,” says Mark Smith, a software engineer who worked on LiveJournal … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Breakage as the ultimate developer sin

Posted on Jul 27, 2018 by Henning Michael Møller Just

I think backward compatibility is the most important thing to consider when developing a product. I understand there can be a reason for breaking compatibility, but the choice of doing so is made by the developer and the cost of … Continue reading →

Posted in Development | Tagged | 3 Comments