TLDR Web Dev · ARTICLES & TUTORIALS

WHY PATCHING GLOBALS IS HARMFUL

kettanaito.com20 min read

Summary from the TLDR Web Dev newsletter

Patching globals, or modifying existing APIs in a language, can lead to maintenance issues, unpredictable behavior due to conflicting implementations, vendor lock-in, and even slow down the progress of the language itself. These issues arise because patched globals are essentially modifications to code that you don't own, making them difficult to manage and predict. There are often better, more explicit solutions to API design challenges that avoid these issues.