Core Java for the Impatient, 3rd Edition

Chapter 12

The Date and Time API

Topics in This Chapter

• 12.1 The Time Line

• 12.2 Local Dates

• 12.3 Date Adjusters

• 12.4 Local Time

• 12.5 Zoned Time

• 12.6 Formatting and Parsing

• 12.7 Interoperating with Legacy Code

• Exercises

Time flies like an arrow, and we can easily set a starting point and count forwards and backwards in seconds. So why is it so hard to deal with time? The problem is humans. All would be easy if we could just tell each other: “Meet me at 1371409200, and don’t be late!” But we want time to relate to daylight and the seasons. That’s where things get complicated. Java 1.0 had a Date class that was, in hindsight, naïve, and had most of its methods deprecated in Java 1.1 when a Calendar class was introduced. Its API wasn’t stellar, ...