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I have seen these two terms, in English, being used to refer to the compatibility of some functionality of a given language, library and the like.
What it really means forward Compatibility and backward Compatibility?
This is related to software development, library and related, or is also used in other situations?
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Backward Compatibility is something that is compatible with previous versions of that component or with other existing components, so this new component can perfectly converse or replace existing components. In general we are talking about something that is still able to do the same things as before, invoking in the same way, even if it changes the implementation or adds something new. If this compatibility is broken it will probably need maintenance or behavior change. This is considered loss of functionality that may displease the user.
Forward Compatibility is the ability of the component to communicate with other components that are yet to come. Usually it is a preparation so that the exact form of the data he will receive does not need to be in such a specific way, just obeys certain contracts. A widely used technique is the "programming for interface and not for implementation". Some design standards are useful for getting forward compatibility.
You probably saw this about browser compatibility. In general web technologies are made so that novelties in them do not cause problems in old renderers, they are only ignored.
The terms work a lot for software development, but can also be used for hardware or other fields.
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