Re^4: On moving forward and breaking compatibility

[pemungkah]

Upgrading to a new dependency without testing code with the new dependency is a worse maintenance practice.

Agreed, but.

Running into trees is bad driving practice, so we put seatbelts and crumple zones and roll cages in cars (or do safety recalls) instead of putting a small sticker inside the glovebox that says "PLEASE DO NOT RUN INTO TREES AS YOU WILL GET HURT", or "CAR WILL ACCELERATE UNCONTROLLABLY IF FLOORMATS ARE LOOSE".

I think it's reasonable and responsible to consider the possibility of, and avoid, potentially dangerous situations, not blame the person in trouble: anti-lock brakes instead of blame-the-driver systems. Designing anti-lock brakes took time and effort, and most of the time they're unnecessary. But if they are, they make a big difference.

So I personally feel like I'm responsible for making this kind of difference when I can. Yes, programmers are supposed to be smart. But they are also sometimes tired, in a hurry, or a little careless - and sometimes, for whatever reason, they're not smart either. I think it's good practice to do a little extra myself so that if something dumb does happen, the damage is minimized, or even prevented.