simpleDateFormat in Processing

I spent about an hour, trying to figure out how to use the simpleDateFormat java library in Processing… It seemed so straight forward, yet I couldn’t get it to work…

Well, it seems that the only thing I had to add is a try/catch.

So, this example works:

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import java.text.*;
Date myDate;
 
void setup(){
SimpleDateFormat myDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
 
try {
myDate = myDateFormat.parse("20001010");
} catch (Exception e) {
  println("Unable to parse date stamp");
} 
 
println(myDate);
}

but this one does not, even though there is no error to catch…

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import java.text.*;
Date myDate;
 
void setup(){
SimpleDateFormat myDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
myDate = myDateFormat.parse("20001010");
println(myDate);
}

I’m not sure why this is the case. If anyone does, please let me know!