Best way to get maximum Date value in java?

Question

I\'m writing a bit of logic that requires treating null dates as meaning forever in the future (the date in question is an expiration date, which may or may not exist). Inst

Answer 1

+1 to the Long.MAX_VALUE suggestions. It seems that this would help you if you sort stuff by your date field.

However, instead of constructing a date from some the large constant value where ever you need the date, use a globally visible singleton to hold a Date instance that represents your special value:

class DateUtil
{
  public static final Date NO_EXPIRE = new Date( Long.MAX_VALUE );
}

Then you can use simple identity comparison (mydate == DateUtils.NO_EXPIRE) to test if a particular date is of your special case instead of obj.equals(); (ie. mydate.equals ( DateUtils.NO_EXPIRE ); )