![21
“The change leads to better and more developer-friendly
code (for example, to more fluent code).” [D2]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-21-320.jpg)
![22
“The classes/methods/fields are not removed all, they are
just refactored to a better package signature.” [D6]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-22-320.jpg)
![23
“Bugfix. For example some of the items shouldn’t be
accessible and were made private.” [D3]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-23-320.jpg)
![24
“We switched the assertion library on which the library
was based.” [D4]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-24-320.jpg)
![25
“It’s a deliberate policy. bitcoinj has never done a 1.0
release that would have posted API stability.” [D7]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-25-320.jpg)
![30
FIVE
AWARE
TWO
UNCLEAR
SEVEN
ANSWERS
“Once one client asked to
use @Deprecated on old
methods, but we simply
don’t have enough resources
to maintain all deprecated
methods.” [D2]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-30-320.jpg)
![31
FIVE
AWARE
TWO
UNCLEAR
SEVEN
ANSWERS
“Yes. But we are not Spring
yet. [...] Being a
small-to-middle library has
it’s benefits.” [D2]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/saner2017eratrack-170223145809/85/Why-Do-We-Break-APIs-First-Answers-from-Developers-31-320.jpg)
Why Do We Break APIs? First Answers from Developers
- 1. Why Do We Break APIs? First Answers from Developers Laerte Xavier, André Hora, Marco Tulio Valente Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil SANER 2017 ERA Track
- 2. 2 Breaking API contracts is a common practice!
- 3. API changes break compatiblity 28% Historical and Impact Analysis of API Breaking Changes: A Large-Scale Study, SANER, 2017 3
- 4. 4 The rate of breaking changes increases over time! Historical and Impact Analysis of API Breaking Changes: A Large-Scale Study, SANER, 2017
- 5. 5 What specific reasons motivate API breaking changes?
- 6. 6 RQ1: Why do developers break API contracts? RQ2: Are developers aware of the impact of breaking changes on client applications? Research Questions
- 8. 8 TOP-317 GITHUB JAVA LIBRARIES 90 LIBRARIES WITH MORE THAN 50 BREAKING CHANGES
- 9. 9 TOP-317 90 49 EMAILS FROM MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS GITHUB JAVA LIBRARIES LIBRARIES WITH MORE THAN 50 BREAKING CHANGES
- 14. 14
- 15. 15
- 16. 16
- 17. 17
- 18. 18
- 19. 19 RQ1: Why do developers break API contracts? RQ2: Are developers aware of the impact of breaking changes on client applications? Research Questions
- 21. 21 “The change leads to better and more developer-friendly code (for example, to more fluent code).” [D2]
- 22. 22 “The classes/methods/fields are not removed all, they are just refactored to a better package signature.” [D6]
- 23. 23 “Bugfix. For example some of the items shouldn’t be accessible and were made private.” [D3]
- 24. 24 “We switched the assertion library on which the library was based.” [D4]
- 25. 25 “It’s a deliberate policy. bitcoinj has never done a 1.0 release that would have posted API stability.” [D7]
- 26. 26 RQ1: Why do developers break API contracts? RQ2: Are developers aware of the impact of breaking changes on client applications? Research Questions
- 27. 27 SEVEN ANSWERS
- 30. 30 FIVE AWARE TWO UNCLEAR SEVEN ANSWERS “Once one client asked to use @Deprecated on old methods, but we simply don’t have enough resources to maintain all deprecated methods.” [D2]
- 31. 31 FIVE AWARE TWO UNCLEAR SEVEN ANSWERS “Yes. But we are not Spring yet. [...] Being a small-to-middle library has it’s benefits.” [D2]
- 32. 32 Five main reasons why developers break APIs
- 33. 33 Five main reasons why developers break APIs Most developers are aware of the impact
- 34. 34 Five main reasons why developers break APIs Most developers are aware of the impact In some cases, they adopt strategies to mitigate
- 35. 35 Five main reasons why developers break APIs Most developers are aware of the impact In some cases, they adopt strategies to mitigate New study contacting developers right after a commit with a breaking change
- 36. Why do you break APIs? 36
- 37. Why do you break APIs? 37 Are you aware about the impact?
- 38. Why Do We Break APIs? First Answers from Developers Laerte Xavier, André Hora, Marco Tulio Valente Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil SANER 2017 ERA Track