From: vwheeler 

> If we mark superseded classes, methods, and fields clearly and
> unambiguously as "deprecated", the programmers will know where to
> concentrate their attention. Also, the compiler will be able to help
> with this process, by bringing unintentional uses of deprecated APIs
> to the programmer's attention.

The {at}deprecated is a comment to the programmer(s) what better place to put
it then in the comments.

Rich wrote:

> You should.  From
> http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/misc/deprecation/deprecated.html.
>
>
>
> As far as the compiler is concerned, the presence of the string
> "{at}deprecated" at the beginning of a documentation comment line
> (except for whitespace) causes it to place a "Deprecated" attribute
> in the output classfile for the corresponding class, field, or
> method.
>
>
> and
>
>
> Still, the compiler has heretofore ignored and should generally
> ignore documentation comments. This is an admittedly irregular
> exception to that practice. But the other design options for
> deprecation involve worse sorts of irregularity.
>
> Rich
>
>
> "Adam Flinton"  > wrote in message
> news:3f954949$1{at}w3.nls.net... Paul Ranson wrote:
>
>> Why would you expect Java to have similar bodges to HTML?
>>
>
> I wouldn't.
>
> Adam
>
>> Paul
>>
>> "Adam Flinton"  > wrote in message
>> news:3f94f491$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>>
>>> Paul Ranson wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I think you won't find HTML in comments, you'll find scripts
>>>> and
> other
>>>> executables. And it's to do with backward compatibility. I
>>>> don't
> see the
>>>> problem. You're a Java user and advocate, you're used to a
>>>> bodged
>>
>> language.
>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>> "Adam Flinton"  > wrote in message
>>>> news:3f93db4d$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Not so it would seem given you can chuck code &
possibly more
>>>>>
> html into
>>>>> the comments which would be parsed (because they're not
>>>>> really
> comments
>>>>> ) thus could provide something for the interpreter to choke
>>>>> on.
>>>>>
>>>>> Adam
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> The only similar thing in java is JavaDoc & then you can strip
>>> all of that out w/o changing the program one whit.
>>>
>>> Adam
>>>
>>
>>

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