&gt; <i>you change the declaration then fix any compile errors.</i><p>In all 3123 places in the code base; good luck.<p>This sounds like ... an assertion from someone who doesn&#x27;t do actual software engineering.<p>Back at you!<p>&gt; <i>you don&#x27;t really know what might be broken</i><p>Because you don&#x27;t have a regression test suite, a test plan, and four developers to one QA person.<p>&gt; <i>Therefore programmers avoid this.</i><p>Programmers bravely avoid nothing. Historically, programmers have gotten themselves into every imaginable mess with every type of language.