When is it desired to not implement toString() in Java?

Question

A lead developer on my project has taken to referring to the project\'s toString() implementations as \"pure cruft\" and is looking to remove them from the code base.

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Answer 1

I've said that doing so would mean that any clients wishing to display the objects would have to write their own code to convert the object to string, but that was answered with "yes they would".

This is not a question that can be answered in isolation ... you should ask the clients (or the people writing them) what they think of the idea. If I was using a Java library and relying on its toString() overloads for debugging, I'd be rather annoyed if the library's developers decided to purge them.