Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

>Not following Postel's law would result in brittle system components that break when other parts of the system evolve.

This depends how much graceful degradation you have available to you. In systems/domains where little is available, following Postel's law can result in silent failures rather than explicit/loud ones. The question isn't whether they break or how brittle they are, but whether you will notice whether they did break. Each system exists within a range on a continuum of how acceptable Postel's law is.




Also, just because Postel's law worked for a small group of highly skilled systems programmers implementing common infrastructure for everyone, it doesn't automatically follow that it will work for a large and fast growing group of programmers of wildly varying skill, each implementing their own or their employer's brilliant business idea.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: