2008/2/3, Edward Chernenko edwardspec@gmail.com:
That query api was written to secure people who write bots from web interface changes.
So the new API interface does. It has some serious advantages in comparison to unmaintained query.php.
I just haven't enough time to rewrite what I was working on for weeks just because someone "has ported that to some other interface" and wants to delete it without backward compability.
Writing a post of this size takes more time than making update to your code. Old query API is capable to produce output in same formats as the new one, you just have to change some tags' names, that's it.
Of course, we could keep it, but read what the head API developer says:
Agree, backwards compatibility is important, but it has to be balanced with efforts required to maintain query.php.. Every db schema change must be looked at to see if query.php must be updated. Internal api changes may also impact its functions and performance. IIRC, there are already some queries not working as intended.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-api/2008-February/000347.html
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— Kalan