<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>backward combatability</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../B.html" title="B"/><link rel="previous" href="backronym.html" title="backronym"/><link rel="next" href="BAD.html" title="BAD"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">backward combatability</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="backronym.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">B</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="BAD.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="backward-combatability"/><dt xmlns="" id="backward-combatability"><b>backward combatability</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/bak´w@rd k@m·bat'@·bil'@·tee/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p>[CMU, Tektronix: from <span class="firstterm">backward compatibility</span>] A property of hardware or software revisions in which previous protocols, formats, layouts, etc. are irrevocably discarded in favor of ‘new and improved’ protocols, formats, and layouts, leaving the previous ones not merely deprecated but actively defeated. (Too often, the old and new versions cannot definitively be distinguished, such that lingering instances of the previous ones yield crashes or other infelicitous effects, as opposed to a simple “<span class="quote">version mismatch</span>” message.) A backwards compatible change, on the other hand, allows old versions to coexist without crashes or error messages, but too many major changes incorporating elaborate backwards compatibility processing can lead to extreme <a href="../S/software-bloat.html"><i class="glossterm">software bloat</i></a>. See also <a href="../F/flag-day.html"><i class="glossterm">flag day</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="backronym.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../B.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="BAD.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">backronym </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> BAD</td></tr></table></div></body></html>