Is it a bad practice to override deprecated methods without actually changing what they return?

Question

My class extends java.sql.Date because I need it to work easily and well with my database. However, java.sql.Date also extends java.util.Date which has deprecated methods such as getYear(), getMonth(), and getDay().

I don't like the idea that my team will have deprecated warnings pop up whenever they use the deprecated methods that I inherited in my class. So, should I override those deprecated methods just to trick the IDE into thinking that we're not using deprecated methods when using my class?

For example:

    @Override
    public int getYear() {
        return super.getYear();
    }
    
    @Override
    public int getMonth() {
        return super.getMonth();
    }
    
    @Override
    public int getDay() {
        return super.getDay();
    }

You are still calling the deprecated method you will get warning on your class. — seenukarthi, Oct 25 '21 at 08:28
Also, deprecated methods might be removed some time in the future and then your code will break. — QBrute, Oct 25 '21 at 08:33
@KarthikeyanVaithilingam It only shows on my class, but it doesn't show on others which is what I'm aiming for. Just to avoid my team from having a bunch of deprecated warnings in their code when they use my class. — Carl Eric Doromal, Oct 25 '21 at 08:35
@CarlEricDoromal you shouldn't override those methods, you shouldn't use those methods. Use the ones that replaced them. There is a reason they are deprecated — Stultuske, Oct 25 '21 at 08:37
@QBrute I honestly don't think I have a choice since `java.sql.Date` is (afaik) the only thing there is that works well with SQL Date, but the tradeoff is that it also inherits from `java.util.Date` which is mostly deprecated. — Carl Eric Doromal, Oct 25 '21 at 08:39
@CarlEricDoromal It's gives your team a false sense of not using a deprecated method but it's not the case they are calling a method which itself calling a deprecated method. — seenukarthi, Oct 25 '21 at 08:39
*My class extends java.sql.Date because I need it to work easily and well with my database.* - This is a very bad choice. The `java.util` Date-Time API and their formatting API, `SimpleDateFormat` are outdated and error-prone. It is recommended to stop using them completely and switch to the modern Date-Time API. `java.sql.Date` inherits all those problems by extending `java.util.Date`. Check [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/67752047/10819573) and [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/67505173/10819573) to learn how to use `java.time` API with JDBC. — Arvind Kumar Avinash, Oct 25 '21 at 08:40
@Stultuske agreed, but in this particular case the advice is to replace with Calendar.get() and that might be incompatible with *having* to use java.sql.Date for some reason or other ... — Erwin Smout, Oct 25 '21 at 08:40
@ErwinSmout: `Calendar` is also part of the "old and busted" `java.util` group of date/time handling classes, it's definitely not the correct alternative. `LocalDate` is the most likely correct replacement for `java.sql.Date`. And why do you **have** to use ` java.sql.Date` anywhere except at the very point where you interact with the JDBC driver? Or does *all* of your code interact directly with JDBC (which would be a code smell, IMO). — Generous Badger, Oct 25 '21 at 08:48

Polygnome · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-25T08:50:14.717

3

No, don't do this. There is literally no reason whatsoever to do this.

Use @SuppressWarnings("deprecation") if you have made sure that you really, really just want to suppress the warning without actually doing anything about it.

But there is a reason why these methods are deprecated. Java has a new Date & Time API (java.time), which works much better. Most tools now support the new API. If at all possible, you should think about migrating to the new API.

edited Oct 25 '21 at 08:50

answered Oct 25 '21 at 08:47

Polygnome

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This and Arvind Kumar Avinash's comment seems to be the right answers. – Carl Eric Doromal Oct 25 '21 at 09:03

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 25 '21 at 08:30

0

There is usually a reason why methods get deprecated. In java's own packages, those reasons are documented extremely carefully. And very often, it is a bad idea to plain ignore that reason and think too lightly it doesn't apply to you.

answered Oct 25 '21 at 08:30

Erwin Smout

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Is it a bad practice to override deprecated methods without actually changing what they return?

2 Answers2