deprecated

Said of a program or feature that is considered obsolescent

and in the process of being phased out, usually in favour of a

specified replacement. Deprecated features can,

unfortunately, linger on for many years. This term appears

with distressing frequency in standards documents when the

committees writing the documents realise that large amounts of

extant (and presumably happily working) code depend on the

feature(s) that have passed out of favour.

See also dusty deck.

[Jargon File]

(1995-04-19)