How to isolate your program from calls to a “bad” API?

Question

When I developed a piece of (academic) software using Java, I was forced to use an API that was rather badly implemented. This means that calls to this API for a certain set

Answer 1

Both @S.Lott and @Stephen C's answers are spot on with regard to how to handle this type of situation, but I'd like to add that in a non-academic environment, you should also be looking to replace the API as soon as practical. In situations where we've been locked into a bad API, typically through choosing a vended solution for other reasons, I've worked to replace the functionality with my own over time. Your customers are not going to be as tolerant as your professor since they actually have to use your software (or not!) instead of merely grade it.

There are certainly situations where using duct tape is an adequate choice to solve a problem. When it results in such poor behavior as you describe, though, it's best not to rely on it too long and start working on a real repair.