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When Do You Kiss Backwards Compatibility Goodbye?

Posted by Cliff on from the ditching-all-of-that-old-baggage dept.

Arandir asks: "Backwards compatibility is great for users. But it sucks for developers. After a while your normally sensible and readable code becomes a nightmare spaghetti tangle of conditions, macros and multiple reinventions of the wheel. Eventually you have to kiss off backwards compatibility as more trouble than it's worth. The question is, when? Should my code conform to POSIX.1 or Single UNIX 2? Should I expect the user to have a ISO Standard C++ compiler? What about those users with SunOS-4.1.4, Slackware-3.2, and FreeBSD-2.2?" This question is really kind of difficult to answer in the general sense. The best advice one can give, of course, is "when you can get away with it". Not much help, that, but the lost of backwards compatibility, like most complex decisions, depends on a lot of factors. The key factor in most developers eyes, of course, is the bottom line. Have many of you been faced with this decision? What logic did you use to come to your decision and what suggestions do you have for others who might find themself in this predicament?

11 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ironically.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    you're a fucking cunt.

  2. [The Great Anonymous French Calembour] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Goodbye: J'ai l'goût d'bâiller.

    1. Re:[The Great Anonymous French Calembour] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      YOU ROCK!

  3. It all depends by sting3r · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    I am by no means an expert at backwards compatibility - but this is definitely something to kiss goodbye.

    -sting3r
    (posting anonymously to preserve my precious karma)

  4. Re:Fukk LINEX! Do it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Haha, you're a FAG.

  5. Re:Fukk LINEX! Do it... by jquirke · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No your quite obviously the FAG. must this continue?

  6. Re:Fukk LINEX! Do it... by archen · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    did this guy write the template for the SirCam virus e-mail?

  7. Re:HELP! I NEED SPAM! by rhammack · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Are you Kidding????? you're not logged in and you expect anyone to send spam anywhere????
    either A) you think we're idiots, and we'll help you spam some poor dude, or B)YOUR an idiot, and don't realize that at a minimum, you should be logged in so we can verify who YOU are, and that it's a legit request.

    --
    "Theory is when you know everything but nothing works. Practice is when everything works but no one knows why. In our
  8. Re:Apple's plan by neitzsche · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Dear gwb:

    'obsoleted' is not a word.

    --
    "God is dead." - Frederik Nietzsche
  9. Re:HELP! I NEED SPAM! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    B)YOUR an idiot, and don't realize that at a minimum...

    One thing we do know for sure. You're an idiot for never learning the difference between the words your and you're.

  10. Re:Fukk LINEX! Do it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    i like linux it let me do things like download KIDDIE PORNN all day ----- my windows kept not letting me do that :(

    the REAL J"Raxis