The Java Tutorials have been written for JDK 8.Java教程是为JDK 8编写的。Examples and practices described in this page don't take advantage of improvements introduced in later releases and might use technology no longer available.本页中描述的示例和实践没有利用后续版本中引入的改进，并且可能使用不再可用的技术。See Java Language Changes for a summary of updated language features in Java SE 9 and subsequent releases.有关Java SE 9及其后续版本中更新的语言特性的摘要，请参阅Java语言更改。
See JDK Release Notes for information about new features, enhancements, and removed or deprecated options for all JDK releases.有关所有JDK版本的新功能、增强功能以及已删除或不推荐的选项的信息，请参阅JDK发行说明。
Date objects represent dates and times. You cannot display or print a Date object without first converting it to a String that is in the proper format. Just what is the "proper" format? First, the format should conform to the conventions of the end user's Locale. For example, Germans recognize 20.4.09 as a valid date, but Americans expect that same date to appear as 4/20/09. Second, the format should include the necessary information. For instance, a program that measures network performance may report on elapsed milliseconds. An online appointment calendar probably won't display milliseconds, but it will show the days of the week.
This section explains how to format dates and times in various ways and in a locale-sensitive manner. If you follow these techniques your programs will display dates and times in the appropriate Locale, but your source code will remain independent of any specific Locale.
The DateFormat class provides predefined formatting styles that are locale-specific and easy to use.
With the SimpleDateFormat class, you can create customized, locale-specific formats.
Using the DateFormatSymbols class, you can change the symbols that represent the names of months, days of the week, and other formatting elements.