Java Code for calculating Leap Year

Question

I am following \"The Art and Science of Java\" book and it shows how to calculate a leap year. The book uses ACM Java Task Force\'s library.

Here is the code the boo

Answer 1

this answer is great but it won't work for years before Christ (using a proleptic Gregorian calendar). If you want it to work for B.C. years, then use the following adaptation:

public static boolean isLeapYear(final int year) {
    final Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    if (year<0) {
        cal.set(Calendar.ERA, GregorianCalendar.BC);
        cal.set(Calendar.YEAR, -year);
    } else
        cal.set(Calendar.YEAR, year);
    return cal.getActualMaximum(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR) > 365;
}

You can verify that for yourself by considering that year -5 (i.e. 4 BC) should be pronounced as a leap year assuming a proleptic Gregorian calendar. Same with year -1 (the year before 1 AD). The linked to answer does not handle that case whereas the above adapted code does.