Why this matters
Communicates lifecycle and migration paths to consumers.
When introducing or deprecating public APIs, include @since for introductions and @deprecated with migration notes and links for removals.
Communicates lifecycle and migration paths to consumers.
Side-by-side examples engineers can pattern-match during review.
/* Old method /
@Deprecated
public void oldApi(){ }/
* Process payment (v2).
* @since 3.2.0
*/
public void payV2(){ }
/
* @deprecated Use {@link #payV2()} — v1 will be removed in 4.0.
/
@Deprecated
public void pay(){ }/ @deprecated Use newApi() /
@Deprecated
public void oldApi(){ }/* Deprecated */
public void oldApi(){ }From the same buckets as this rule.