15 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
15 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<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
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compatibility</span>] A property of hardware or software revisions in
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which previous protocols, formats, layouts, etc. are irrevocably discarded
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in favor of ‘new and improved’ protocols, formats, and layouts,
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leaving the previous ones not merely deprecated but actively defeated.
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(Too often, the old and new versions cannot definitively be distinguished,
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such that lingering instances of the previous ones yield crashes or other
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infelicitous effects, as opposed to a simple “<span class="quote">version
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mismatch</span>” message.) A backwards compatible change, on the other
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hand, allows old versions to coexist without crashes or error messages, but
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too many major changes incorporating elaborate backwards compatibility
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processing can lead to extreme <a href="../S/software-bloat.html"><i class="glossterm">software bloat</i></a>. See
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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>
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