Brainstorm, What constitutes a public API? (was Re: [Zope3-dev] Re: APIs breakage)

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 09:56 AM 7/13/04 -0400, Jim Fulton wrote:
>- There be public interfaces and private interfaces.
>
>   Here, bublic or private doesn;t say anything about
>   security, but about the stability of and long-term
>   commitment to an API.

May I suggest that current usage leans towards calling these "published" 
interfaces?

It's only a difference in degree of implication, but it distinguishes them 
from public -- but not-yet-stable -- interfaces.

See for example:

    http://www.martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/published.pdf

While it's not exactly an industry-standard term, consistency with an 
emerging term would be helpful by avoiding confusion of those familiar with it.