backward compatibility

1 definition found

backward compatibility - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  backward compatibility
  backward compatible
  backwards compatibility
  backwards compatible
  
     <jargon> Able to share data or commands with older versions of
     itself, or sometimes other older systems, particularly systems
     it intends to supplant.  Sometimes backward compatibility is
     limited to being able to read old data but does not extend to
     being able to write data in a format that can be read by old
     versions.
  
     For example, WordPerfect 6.0 can read WordPerfect 5.1 files,
     so it is backward compatible.  It can be said that Perl is
     backward compatible with awk, because Perl was (among other
     things) intended to replace awk, and can, with a converter,
     run awk programs.
  
     See also: backward combatability.
  
     Compare: forward compatible.
  
     (2003-06-23)