Deprecated Technologies/Features in Simple Words

Have you ever come across the term "Deprecated" or "Obsolete" with regards to any particular Software/Programming Language feature in an IT environment? If your answer is "No" then for some reason you might have overlooked it or too busy to drill down in-depth meaning of such terms.

In simple words a Deprecated feature or technology means any or all of the following:

1. It is not recommended for future use
2. It is less secure as compared to its counter parts
3. It is not partially or completely compatible with new versions of the software/programming language
4. It will no more be supported in existing or upcoming versions
5. It is going to be removed but available for some time to allow transition
6. It may remain part of the programming Language/software but there are far more better functions or features that are available now

The word deprecated is also used with hardware components and has somewhat similar meaning in terms of context.

Feature Deprecation Example

A simple example of a deprecated feature of SQL Server is using "Backup Database with Password" command which means it should be avoided as sooner or later it is going to be removed and may be replaced by some better feature.

Function Deprecation Example

Another example of a deprecated function is String Copy function strcpy(DestinationString,SourceString) in C language runtime library that copies the string (text) from source and paste it into destination and returns the copied destination string.

However if we try to copy a text (string) bigger than destination string size then it throws error.

Thus a new function strcpy_c() has been introduced that takes into account the size of the destination (string) before processing the copy string operation and generates a warning if it exceeds the maximum limit allowed rather than resulting into error after processing.

In simple words, Software/Programing Languages features, functions, tools, add-ons etc. don't straight away get discontinued but rather they are deprecated allowing time to make proper arrangements to fulfil the gap that will be left by them when they will be removed and this can also be called as graceful discontinuation.

References:

1. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175759.aspx
2. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kk6xf663.aspx
3. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143729.aspx
4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation
5. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8111774/deprecated-meaning
6. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/c_standard_library/c_function_strcpy.htm