Why is almost everything in the API final

[Fabrizio Giudici]

On Tue, 03 Sep 2013 07:16:06 +0200, Tom Eugelink <tbee at tbee.org> wrote:

> AFAIK there was never a framework that used final a lot, so time will  
> tell if the choice was right. Swing and the JDK made it this far. But

The NetBeans Platform API does use final a lot for the same rationale  
we're discussing now.

> I'm suspecting the choice may have been made motivated more from the  
> perspective of the developers of the framework (a few people) and not as  
> much from the users (many people).

That's true, but you're misusing the perspective. Many users would only  
see some minor impact of extending a class, while the few developers would  
see the accumulation of a huge number of problems because those minor  
things are multiplied by the large number of users. It's precisely by  
putting oneself in the perspective of the developers that 'final' makes  
sense.



-- 
Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect @ Tidalwave s.a.s.
"We make Java work. Everywhere."
http://tidalwave.it/fabrizio/blog - fabrizio.giudici at tidalwave.it