Deprecated vs depreciated: What's the difference?
The key difference between deprecated and depreciated is that something deprecated can be used today, but will not be available in the future, while something that has depreciated has continuously lost value over time.
The term depreciated is used commonly in accounting and economics, while the term deprecated is commonly used in software development and programming.
Deprecated in software engineering
A deprecated item functions exactly the same way today as it did in the past, although all functionality and utility are planned to be removed in the future. In contrast, an item that has depreciated no longer holds the same value as it did in the past, and its value will continue to diminish and deteriorate as time goes on.
In the software development world, a deprecated class, component, or function is one that is still available in the current version of the API but is planned to be removed in the near future.
Deprecated items in IT will no longer be available in the future, while depreciated ones will have lost value in the future.
Depreciating assets in accounting
They say when you drive a new car off the lot, it loses 30% of its value right away. That’s a real-world example of something depreciating.
Furthermore, when a company purchases an expensive asset, an accountant can write off any depreciation of that asset against earnings. For example, a $100,000 tractor might get written off over 10 years, giving the company a $10,000 tax deduction each year.
Differences between depreciate and deprecate
The two terms sound similar, but their meanings and the context in which they are used are very different. The top 5 differences between deprecate and depreciate are as follows:
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Depreciated relates to finance, while deprecated relates to software development
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Depreciation is a result of wear and tear over time, while deprecation indicates future obsolescence
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Depreciation indicates diminishing value and utility over time, while deprecation indicates full utility until pending discontinuation
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Depreciation applies to assets like cars and buildings, while deprecation applies to software libraries, APIs, code, and frameworks
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Depreciation comes from the Latin word depretiare meaning “reduce in price”, while deprecated comes from the word deprecari which means “to pray away.”
Depreciated, deprecated and software engineering
If a software engineer ever uses the word depreciated, it’s likely that they actually meant the word deprecated. The opposite is true for accountants using the word deprecated.
There really is no application of the term depreciated in software development. Occasionally a developer or engineer will refer to a method or component as being depreciated, but that’s simply a slip of the tongue. What they mean is that the component is deprecated.