Hello everybody,

The question I have concerns OSWindow and its backend : SDL. However, even if I'll speak about these two, i think the question is quite general and can apply to every API.

There are some functions that we are sure we will find in every backend possible (for instance the possibility to create a new window, to resize it etc.) and for these ones it is totally fine to abstract the backend from the user because you know that even if the backend has to change the API will be usable the same way.

But there are some functions that are quite specific to a certain backend and you cannot always find it in others. But this function is cool so it would be a shame not to implement it just for the sake of uniformity.
In this case I see two options :

1) You abstract these functions exactly the same way you did for the others and the user is not informed at all. In this case the risk is that if the backend changes it may break the API for the user because he won't be able to use this function anymore.And he may feel a bit sad because he was not warned about it.

2) You make something to let the user know that this or that function is specific to this or that backend. By doing so the user knows that there is a small risk that he won't be able to use this function anymore if the backend changes. He has been warned.

Now I prefer the second option but I wanted to ask you about that "something". What is the best way to warn the user ?

- Should I let the name of the backend in the name of the method ? "SDL_MySpecificMethod"
- Should I put all these methods in a specific package and name / comment that package accordingly ?
- Some other things ?

Basically my question is : what is the best way to let the user know he is dealing with a specific function for a specific backend ?

Thanks,

Matthieu