Java Term of the Week: Deprecated

Deprecated is a term that is mainly used around version of APIs. When something is said to be deprecated it means programmers are discouraged from using it anymore. It could be a class, method, interface, anything that its creators have decided should no longer be used. Normally an alternative has been provided which does the same thing in a better way.

If you look at the documentation for the core API of Java SE 6 you can find a list of everything that has been deprecated. If there is one, it also outlines the alternative approach that should be used.