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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

Breaking change

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈbreɪkɪŋ tʃeɪndʒ/nounCommon term

In software engineering, breaking change means: A change to an API, library or file format that makes existing code that uses it stop working unless that code is updated too.

In Turkish: geriye dönük uyumsuz değişiklik, kırıcı değişiklik

How it is used

Release notes often have a 'Breaking changes' section. In semantic versioning, a breaking change means a new major version, for example from 2.x to 3.0. Teams try to announce breaking changes early and avoid them where possible.

Example sentences

  1. Renaming that field is a breaking change for every mobile client still on the old version.

  2. Version 5 of the library has several breaking changes, so the upgrade will take time.

Common collocations

  • introduce a breaking change
  • avoid breaking changes
  • breaking changes in
  • list of breaking changes
  • deprecateTo officially mark a feature, function or API as outdated and not recommended, usually as a warning that it will be removed in a later version.
  • APIShort for application programming interface: a set of rules that lets one program ask another program for data or actions in a fixed, documented way.
  • releaseA version of a product that is made available to users, or the act of making it available. Also a verb: to release a new version.
  • dependencyA library, service or other piece of software that your code needs in order to work, so a change or failure in it can affect your project.

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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