Why does CharSequence not have String getChars(int srcBegin, int srcEnd, char[] dst, int dstBegin)

[Brian Duff]

This doesn't just introduce a source incompatibility (requiring code  
to be recompiled), it also introduces a binary incompatibility. If any  
object receives a CharSequence instance that happened to have been  
compiled against an older version of the platform, it will have no way  
of knowing that this method does not exist on the object.

Java hasn't (to my knowledge) ever broken compatibility with an  
interface in the platform API before. I consider that a great strength  
of the platform.

Brian

On Oct 17, 2008, at 13:26, "Paulo Levi" <i30817 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Can't be changed? No user of the api is currently using getChars on a
> Charsequence (because it doesn't exist!)
>
> If you're talking about other implementers of Charsequence than the
> jdk, well, i don't see why do we have to suffer ignominious interface
> incompleteness just because someone doesn't want to compile the code
> ever again.
>
> And couldn't it be made to work anyway?