An application platform is disclosed together with a method for operating a data processing arrangement on which the application platform is implemented along with at least one application which is executable on the application platform by accessing at least one programming interface of the application platform. In at least one embodiment, in the course of a change of version of the application platform or of a part of the platform, a check is carried out by way of an update module to determine whether a newly-to-be-installed more recent version of the application platform or of the part of the platform is consistent with the existing older version of the application platform or of the part of the platform in terms of the interface specification and/or the behavior of the or each programming interface. If necessary, the update module overwrites the older version with the more recent version. Otherwise the update module installs the more recent version or at least its programming interface in parallel with the existing version or its programming interface.