Deprecation is the discouragement of use of something human-made, such as a linguistic term, a proper name, a feature, design, functionality, piece of code, or practice. Typically a thing previously used is deprecated because it is—or is claimed or thought to be—inferior compared to other options now available. Deprecation is thus a mechanism for future improvement. Deprecation implies that the community has determined that future use—of the term, name, device, design, or feature—is unwise. However, it also means its replacement or removal is not required or is non-urgent.