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What is Forward Compatibility?
Forward compatibility is the ability of a system to accept inputs that will be compatible with future versions prior to their release. By definition, forward compatibility technology implies that older devices can partially understand data generated by new devices.
This concept can be applied to electrical interfaces, communication signals, data communication protocols, file types, and programming languages. If the standards of an older version can read, display, play, or execute the standards of a newer version, then that version is considered to be forward compatible.
Although forward compatibility and extensibility may seem similar, they are not the same. A forward compatible system can process the "known" parts of data from a newer version. For example, a text-based word processing program in newer versions may display images that are ignored to only process text. An extensible system can be updated to adapt to new versions. For instance, updating a text-based word processing program to be able to display images.
A forward compatible system is expected to ignore data that exists in the new version but cannot be understood by the older version, focusing only on data it can interpret.
Achieving forward compatibility is much more challenging than achieving backward compatibility. This is because predicting the data types or user expectations of the future is not feasible. Backward compatibility does not face these challenges because implementations are made for known file types.
Forward compatibility is the ability of a system to accept inputs that will be compatible with future versions prior to their release. By definition, forward compatibility technology implies that older devices can partially understand data generated by new devices.
This concept can be applied to electrical interfaces, communication signals, data communication protocols, file types, and programming languages. If the standards of an older version can read, display, play, or execute the standards of a newer version, then that version is considered to be forward compatible.
Although forward compatibility and extensibility may seem similar, they are not the same. A forward compatible system can process the "known" parts of data from a newer version. For example, a text-based word processing program in newer versions may display images that are ignored to only process text. An extensible system can be updated to adapt to new versions. For instance, updating a text-based word processing program to be able to display images.
A forward compatible system is expected to ignore data that exists in the new version but cannot be understood by the older version, focusing only on data it can interpret.
Achieving forward compatibility is much more challenging than achieving backward compatibility. This is because predicting the data types or user expectations of the future is not feasible. Backward compatibility does not face these challenges because implementations are made for known file types.