Are java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar deprecated?

Question

It seems that the new java.time API offers everything from java.util.Date and much more.
Is there any reason to use java.util.Date when the newer java.time API is there since Java 8? Should java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar be avoided completely?

Answer 1

Short answer: The new API java.time is way better than the old world with java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar. So yes, the new API should be preferred in new code.

For a quick overview: Once I had written a comparison of features in table form for various date-time-libraries. There is almost no feature which java.time is missing but exists in the old world:

• configurable gregorian/julian cutover
• printing based on the class FieldPosition (used in Swing-component FormattedTextField)

About deprecation: Although most parts of java.util.Date are deprecated since Java 1.1, the class itself (and java.util.Calendar, too) are not officially deprecated, just declared as de facto legacy. The support of the old classes is still important for the goal of backwards compatibility with legacy code. So Oracle will probably not stop the support at any time in the future. But maybe Oracle will apply more sophisticated deprecation strategies.

Future development: It is interesting that the release of Java-8 has not only incorporated a completely new date/time-API (java.time) but also seen some few enhancements to java.util.Calendar, for example Calendar.Builder or SHORT_STANDALONE etc. Well, I can only speculate but this also seems to indicate that Oracle is not willing to stop the support of the old API in the near future.