Name: rmT116609 Date: 07/15/2003


A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
Many methods in the Java class libraries are marked as obsolete. Since there is no @obsolete JavaDoc tag, the compiler doesn't give any warnings. Since "obsolete" is supposed to be "stronger" than "deprecated", the lack of warning is a problem.

JUSTIFICATION :
I'm trying to teach Java programming to CS1 students; they understand when I tell them they can't use deprecated methods, but they don't understand why they don't get a warning for obsolete methods. (And, they don't understand the difference.)

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Ideally, I'd like to see an @obsolete tag. In the interim, I'd like to see the obsolete methods marked, at least, as deprecated, so javac spits out a warning.
ACTUAL -
Students will get a warning for deprecated methods, but no warning for obsolete methods.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;

public class Test extends Applet
{
    public void init()
    {
       setLayout(new BorderLayout());
       Choice ch = new Choice();
       List lst = new List();
       ch.addItem("One"); // obsolete, no warning
       lst.addItem("Two"); // deprecated, get a warning
       add("South", ch); // obsolete, no warning
    }
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Use grep to keep track of obsolete methods.
(Incident Review ID: 191237)
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