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Software Engineering vocabulary · Release and Maintenance

Deprecate

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈdeprəkeɪt/verbCommon term

In software engineering, deprecate means: To officially mark a feature, function or API as outdated and not recommended, usually as a warning that it will be removed in a later version.

In Turkish: kullanımdan kaldırmak, desteğini sonlandırmak, eskimiş olarak işaretlemek

How it is used

Usually passive: 'This method is deprecated', 'v1 of the API was deprecated last year.' Teams publish deprecation notices and timelines so that users have time to switch. You also see 'deprecation warning' in logs.

Example sentences

  1. This function is deprecated. Use formatDate() from the new utils module instead.

  2. We'll deprecate the old endpoint in March and remove it in September.

Common collocations

  • deprecated API
  • deprecation warning
  • deprecated in favor of
  • deprecate an endpoint
  • breaking changeA change to an API, library or file format that makes existing code that uses it stop working unless that code is updated too.
  • releaseA version of a product that is made available to users, or the act of making it available. Also a verb: to release a new version.
  • legacy codeOld code that is still in use, often written by people who have left, with little documentation or few tests, so it feels risky to change.
  • documentationWritten material that explains how software works and how to use, set up or change it, such as guides, API references and README files.
  • endpointA specific URL of an API that accepts requests for one kind of action, such as GET /users to list users or POST /orders to create an order.

More terms: Release and Maintenance

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