Deprecation

In several fields, deprecation is the discouragement of use of some terminology, feature, design, or practice, typically because it has been superseded or is no longer considered efficient or safe, without completely removing it or prohibiting its use. It can also imply that a feature, design, or practice will be removed or discontinued entirely in the future. In several fields, deprecation is the discouragement of use of some terminology, feature, design, or practice, typically because it has been superseded or is no longer considered efficient or safe, without completely removing it or prohibiting its use. It can also imply that a feature, design, or practice will be removed or discontinued entirely in the future. In general English usage, the infinitive 'to deprecate' means 'to express disapproval of (something)'. It derives from the Latin verb deprecare, meaning 'to ward off (a disaster) by prayer'. In current technical usage, for one to state that a feature is deprecated is merely a recommendation against using it. It is still possible to produce a program or product without heeding the deprecation. While a deprecated software feature remains in the software, its use may raise warning messages recommending alternative practices; deprecated status may also indicate the feature will be removed in the future. Features are deprecated rather than immediately removed, to provide backward compatibility, and to give programmers time to bring affected code into compliance with the new standard.