Fragile base class
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The fragile base class problem is a fundamental architectural problem of object-oriented programming systems where base classes (superclasses) are considered "fragile" because seemingly safe modifications to a base class, when inherited by the derived classes, may cause the derived classes to malfunction. You can't tell whether a base class change is safe simply by examining the base class's methods in isolation.
Sometimes the fragile binary interface problem is referred to as the fragile base class problem. The two problems are related but very different.
See also
External links
- Why Extends is Evil (http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2003/jw-0801-toolbox.html) - An example in Java