SAX2 RFD: Inheritance vs. Modification vs. Amalgamation

[Tim Bray]

At 11:20 AM 5/19/99 -0400, David Megginson wrote:
>2. Add the methods to org.xml.sax.Parser, and require applications to
>   catch NoSuchMethodException when using the new methods, in case
>   they're concerned about what version they're dealing with.
>
>   PRO: - doesn't limit options for subclassing in the future
>   CON: - very difficult to write adapters for existing SAX 1.0
>          drivers (slower acceptance and implementation of SAX2)
>        - can cause unexpected behaviour at deployment time, unless
>          the application designer knows to catch
>          NoSuchMethodException

Still, this seems the right thing to do.  SAX has been successful, but
of all its eventual users, 95% haven't started or even heard of it 
yet.  Face the legacy-code issue and deal with it and just make SAX
as good as possible for the long haul.  -Tim

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