Java: how do I check if a Date is within a certain range?

Question

I have a series of ranges with start dates and end dates. I want to check to see if a date is within that range.

Date.before() and Date.after() seem to be a little a

Answer 1

An easy way is to convert the dates into milliseconds after January 1, 1970 (use Date.getTime()) and then compare these values.