Engineering — Guide
Why Hardcoding Algorithms in Your Codebase Is a Liability
What breaks when cryptography is called directly instead of through an API.
The Problem
Developers who import a crypto library and call it directly create a hidden dependency that's expensive to change later.
What Breaks
- Key length assumptions baked into fixed-size buffers
- Signature verification logic scattered across the codebase
- No single place to swap an algorithm when it's deprecated
The Fix
Abstract cryptography behind an internal API so the rest of your application never talks to a specific algorithm directly.