我想收集尽可能多的关于。net / clr中API版本控制的信息，特别是API更改如何破坏或不破坏客户端应用程序。首先，让我们定义一些术语:

API change - a change in the publicly visible definition of a type, including any of its public members. This includes changing type and member names, changing base type of a type, adding/removing interfaces from list of implemented interfaces of a type, adding/removing members (including overloads), changing member visibility, renaming method and type parameters, adding default values for method parameters, adding/removing attributes on types and members, and adding/removing generic type parameters on types and members (did I miss anything?). This does not include any changes in member bodies, or any changes to private members (i.e. we do not take into account Reflection).

二进制级中断——一种API更改，导致针对旧版本API编译的客户端程序集可能无法装入新版本。例如:改变方法签名，即使它允许以与以前相同的方式被调用(即:void返回类型/参数默认值重载)。

源代码级中断——API更改会导致针对旧版本API编写的现有代码可能无法使用新版本进行编译。但是，已经编译的客户机程序集与以前一样工作。例如:添加一个新的重载，可能导致之前明确的方法调用出现歧义。

源代码级安静的语义变化——API的变化会导致编写的现有代码针对旧版本的API悄悄地改变其语义，例如通过调用不同的方法。然而，代码应该继续编译，没有警告/错误，以前编译的程序集应该像以前一样工作。示例:在现有类上实现一个新接口，这会导致在重载解析过程中选择不同的重载。

The ultimate goal is to catalogize as many breaking and quiet semantics API changes as possible, and describe exact effect of breakage, and which languages are and are not affected by it. To expand on the latter: while some changes affect all languages universally (e.g. adding a new member to an interface will break implementations of that interface in any language), some require very specific language semantics to enter into play to get a break. This most typically involves method overloading, and, in general, anything having to do with implicit type conversions. There doesn't seem to be any way to define the "least common denominator" here even for CLS-conformant languages (i.e. those conforming at least to rules of "CLS consumer" as defined in CLI spec) - though I'll appreciate if someone corrects me as being wrong here - so this will have to go language by language. Those of most interest are naturally the ones that come with .NET out of the box: C#, VB and F#; but others, such as IronPython, IronRuby, Delphi Prism etc are also relevant. The more of a corner case it is, the more interesting it will be - things like removing members are pretty self-evident, but subtle interactions between e.g. method overloading, optional/default parameters, lambda type inference, and conversion operators can be very surprising at times.

这里有几个例子:

添加新的方法重载

Kind:源级中断

受影响的语言:c#， VB, f#

更改前的API:

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar(IEnumerable x);
}

更改后的API:

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar(IEnumerable x);
    public void Bar(ICloneable x);
}

样例客户端代码在更改前工作，更改后失效:

new Foo().Bar(new int[0]);

添加新的隐式转换运算符重载

Kind:源级中断。

受影响的语言:c#， VB

不受影响语言:f#

更改前的API:

public class Foo
{
    public static implicit operator int ();
}

更改后的API:

public class Foo
{
    public static implicit operator int ();
    public static implicit operator float ();
}

样例客户端代码在更改前工作，更改后失效:

void Bar(int x);
void Bar(float x);
Bar(new Foo());

注意:f#并没有被破坏，因为它对重载操作符没有任何语言级别的支持，既不是显式的也不是隐式的——两者都必须作为op_Explicit和op_Implicit方法直接调用。

添加新的实例方法

Kind:源级安静语义更改。

受影响的语言:c#， VB

不受影响语言:f#

更改前的API:

public class Foo
{
}

更改后的API:

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar();
}

客户端代码示例:

public static class FooExtensions
{
    public void Bar(this Foo foo);
}

new Foo().Bar();

注意:f#并没有被破坏，因为它没有对ExtensionMethodAttribute的语言级支持，并且需要将CLS扩展方法作为静态方法调用。

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar(string param);
}

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar(string param);
    public void Bar(int? param);
}

new Foo().Bar(null);

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar(string param);
}

public class Foo
{
    public void Bar(string param);
    public void Bar(int? param);
}

new Foo().Bar(null);

public static class Foo
{
    public static readonly string Bar = "Value";
}

public static class Foo
{
    public const string Bar = "Value";
}

public enum Foo
{
   Bar,
   Baz
}

public enum Foo
{
   Baz,
   Bar
}

Foo.Bar < Foo.Baz

class Foo
{
    public virtual void Bar() {}
    public virtual void Baz() {}
}

class FooBase
{
    public virtual void Bar() {}
}

class Foo : FooBase
{
    public virtual void Baz() {}
}

// C++/CLI
ref class Derived : Foo
{
   public virtual void Baz() {{

   // Explicit override    
   public virtual void BarOverride() = Foo::Bar {}
};