Comment by chrisjshull | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chrisjshull | Hacker News Reader

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Hi, I happen to work on Google's Maps JavaScript API, and we actually take great pains to avoid breaking our APIs as much as possible. We take very seriously the implications that breaking changes can have for websites all across the internet, and know that many sites are not under active development.

This page covers the breaking changes from the last few years: https://developers.google.com/maps/deprecations#completed_de... (Keep in mind that the top portion of the page covers features still in the deprecation period - meaning they still work. And that this page covers deprecations in other APIs like Android and iOS.)

My favorite: the deprecation period for v2 of the Maps JS API lasted 11 years after the introduction of the v3 Maps JS API.

Happy to hear about experiences to the contrary, but I thought a little insight might be appreciated.

Thanks for responding, you're a good sport.

Indeed I'm looking at this from a long time frame. From recollection the main breaking changes I'm aware of:

1. The change from v2 to v3, like you mentioned. 2. The new requirement to always include an API key. 3. The visual update to touch-sized controls, distorting especially tiny embedded maps.

Appreciate the feedback. #2 is actually a pretty interesting one - while clearly a change in the API’s output, we were careful to make it so that maps without API keys actually still work (though they do get a heavy visual indication that they need to get an API key).

That being said, when we are talking about such large timeframes, is it fair to portray that as “regular” breaking changes?

Yes, within the context of the type of sites I was discussing. You already indicated that you know that they are not actively maintained. Knowing that, it doesn't really matter if a breakage happens every year, 3 years, 5 years. There's no point at which it becomes "OK", if you believe in the long time preservation of content.

I'm not picking on maps specifically. It's a compounding effect of many individual parts slowly breaking. I would even agree that you did a reasonable job of maintaining backwards compatibility, but that doesn't matter...broken is broken. Content gone is content gone.

Y'all have done great work. I have a page that uses the Maps API - haven't touched it in ~7 years. No problems.

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