10 Covenants

Ten Covenants of API Evolution: https://emptysqua.re/blog/api-evolution-the-right-way/

First Covenant: Avoid Bad Features

Your goal is not to provide features that can be used to bite users, it's to provide features that work and don't have weird subtle behaviors

"It would have been better if this bad feature were never implemented at all."

Second Covenant: Minimize Features

To avoid bad features, add few features in general!

Features are like children: conceived in a moment of passion, they must be supported for years.

Third Covenant: Keep Features Narrow

You don't want a feature that, if abused, breaks everything ever and changes the very foundational nature of what your library does.

Fourth Covenant: Mark Experimental Features "Provisional"

Don't get locked into a dumb feature - if you aren't sure you really want to keep it, mark it as experimental/provisional. Next release, keep what works (mark it official) and discard what doesn't.