Java's Date(...) constructor is deprecated; what does that mean?

Deprecated literally means disapproved of, but a more accurate translation would be retired. Deprecated means this method is still usable, but you should not use it. It will gradually be phased out. There is a new method to do the same thing. Deprecated methods are marked with a special Javadoc comment:

/**
 *@deprecated Please now use newMethod()
 *@see newMethod()
 */

Use:

• Calendar.set(year + 1900, month, date, hrs, min)

or

• GregorianCalendar(year + 1900, month, date, hrs, min).

As suggested by the API documentation.

It means you shouldn't use it in new code. This is typically the case if there's now a better way of achieving something, but the old way is maintained for backward compatibility.

Instead, you could use the Calendar API, as the full message hopefully suggests to you - or (better IMO) you could use Joda Time or the java.time package in Java 8 (see the tutorial). Both of those are far superior date/time APIs. to the

When it comes to deprecated APIs, if the compiler message doesn't suggest an alternative, it's always worth looking at the Javadoc - which in this case suggests using Calendar.set(...).

That means you shouldn't be using it in new code typically because it is dangerous, or because a better alternative exists. Compilers warn when a deprecated program element is used or overridden in non-deprecated code.

In your case, you can use java.util.Calendar class instead of java.util.Date.

By the way, in Java 8 and later, these old classes are supplanted by the new java.time package (Tutorial). Inspired by Joda-Time, defined by JSR 310, and extended by the ThreeTen Extra project. The old classes remain in place and you may continue to use them (while avoiding their deprecated parts), but you are encouraged to transition to the new classes.