Deprecation is a status applied to software features or language terms to indicate that they should be avoided, typically because they have been superseded. Use this tag for questions about deprecated features or how to deprecate features yourself (e.g. using annotations).
In the process of authoring computer software, its standards or documentation, deprecation is a status applied to software features to indicate that they should be avoided, typically because they have been superseded. Although deprecated features remain in the software, their use may raise warning messages recommending alternative practices, and deprecation may indicate that the feature will be removed in the future.
Features are deprecated—rather than immediately removed—in order to provide backward compatibility and give programmers who have used the feature time to bring their code into compliance with the new standard.
