On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Brian <brian.min...@colorado.edu> wrote: > Whatever happened to object-oriented programming and abstraction? Why can't > you define and provide a consistent API?
Object-oriented programming and abstraction do not magically avoid the problem of requirements and functionality changing over time. It's possible to provide a very stable API, but it takes a lot of work. It's necessary for, say, an operating system (and even they often mess up), but it's just not worth it in most other cases. Firefox extensions also sometimes break on upgrade, for instance. The same is true for extension mechanisms in the large majority of software. You have to weigh the costs against the benefits in all cases. Since no actual significant costs have yet been presented here, this whole line of discussion seems like a tempest in a teapot. _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
