why two date classes one in java.util.Date and java.sql.Date?

Question

HI I like to know why there are two Date classes in two different packages one in java.util.Date and one in java.sql.Date? Whats the use of having two Date classes?

But you skipped over java.util.Calendar! Ironically, there's not a single one of these (JDK classes) that you should ever actually use (unless forced). Joda-Time is the only date/time API done right. — Kevin Bourrillion
– Kevin Bourrillion, Commented Jan 20, 2010 at 23:10

Justin Niessner · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-20 21:08:58Z

11

java.util.Date is Java's Date data type.

java.sql.Date is a JDBC wrapper for SQL dates.

~~The two are represented completely differently internally.~~

.NET has the same concepts (but a better naming convention to differentiate the two in my opinion) with System.DataTime and System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDateTime

edited Jan 20, 2010 at 21:08

answered Jan 20, 2010 at 19:21

Justin Niessner

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Crozin · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-20 19:23:28Z

3

java.sql.Date

A thin wrapper around a millisecond value that allows JDBC to identify this as an SQL DATE value. A milliseconds value represents the number of milliseconds that have passed since January 1, 1970 00:00:00.000 GMT.

answered Jan 20, 2010 at 19:23

Crozin

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user85421 · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-20 21:07:18Z

3

The java.sql.Date is a subclass (an extension) of java.util.Date.
What changed in java.sql.Date:

toString() generates a different string representation: yyyy-mm-dd
a static valueOf(String) methods to create a Date from a String with above representation
the getters and setter for hours, minutes and seconds are deprecated

The java.sql.Date class is used with JDBC and it was intended to not have a time part, that is, hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds should be zero... but this is not enforced by the class.

answered Jan 20, 2010 at 21:07

user85421

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