Java's Date(...) constructor is deprecated; what does that mean?

Question

I'm trying to create a Date like this:

date = new Date(year-1900, mon-1, day, hrs, min, sec);

and Eclipse gives me this warning: "The constructor Date(int, int, int, int, int) is deprecated".

What does it mean for a constructor to be deprecated, and what can I do?

Answer 1

Deprecated literally means disapproved of, but a more accurate translation would be retired. Deprecated means this method is still usable, but you should not use it. It will gradually be phased out. There is a new method to do the same thing. Deprecated methods are marked with a special Javadoc comment:

/**
 *@deprecated Please now use newMethod()
 *@see newMethod()
 */

Use:

• Calendar.set(year + 1900, month, date, hrs, min)

or

• GregorianCalendar(year + 1900, month, date, hrs, min).

As suggested by the API documentation.