How to mark a method deprecated

[Isuru Sampath]

How to deprecate a method in Java? If I place an @deprecated tag into the javadoc will it generate the compile time warnings on using a depricated method?

[Jesper de Jong]

Why don't you try it yourself and see what the compiler says?

In Java 1.4 and older, you would use the @deprecated Javadoc tag for this:

/**
 * @deprecated Do not use this method!
 */
public void doSomething() {
  // ...
}

In Java 5.0 and newer, you should use the @Deprecated annotation (although the old Javadoc tag will also still work):

@Deprecated
public void doSomething() {
  // ...
}

[Isuru Sampath]

Thanks for the reply. Will try it out.

[Tony Morris]

Originally posted by Jesper Young:
Why don't you try it yourself and see what the compiler says?

In Java 1.4 and older, you would use the @deprecated Javadoc tag for this:

/**
 * @deprecated Do not use this method!
 */
public void doSomething() {
  // ...
}

In Java 5.0 and newer, you should use the @Deprecated annotation (although the old Javadoc tag will also still work):

@Deprecated
public void doSomething() {
  // ...
}

FWIW, I recall reading somewhere a recommendation (that made sense - but I forget the detail of the reasoning - probably something to do with compiling to earlier targets) to use both the language annotation and the javadoc annotation for 1.5+

[Ken Blair]

Originally posted by Tony Morris:
FWIW, I recall reading somewhere a recommendation (that made sense - but I forget the detail of the reasoning - probably something to do with compiling to earlier targets) to use both the language annotation and the javadoc annotation for 1.5+

Beyond that, does the @Deprecated annotation show up in Javadocs?

[Tony Morris]

Originally posted by Ken Blair:


Beyond that, does the @Deprecated annotation show up in Javadocs?

Yes it does. You will notice that the Deprecated annotation is annotated with the @Documented annotation. All such annotations appear in the javadoc.