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

It is good for debugging purposes. But if you want to display given object as a string to the end user you should never use toString() implementation but provide custom method for that.

So regarding

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".

I agree with your team lead. If you want to display object to any client use custom implementation. If you want to use it for debugging purposes use toString().