Dates before January 1st, 1970

Question

The getTime() fetches the time in millis for a certain Date. Can this be used reliably for dates say in the 18th century. We use the millis and store it in a string variable for future comparison. Is there a limit on how far in the past that this could be used?

Answer 1

I would highly recommend you take a look at JodaTime if you are doing date/time comparisons of the distant past. Or actually any sort of date/time comparisons and calculations. It is a great library!

Don't rely on getTime() for what you want to do. At least consider using Java's Calendar/GregorianCalendar. But personally, I'd suggest using JodaTime.

Answer 2

Of course, long is signed and for example 1.1.1701 is -8 488 782 000 000.