Date comparison

CompareDate.java

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class AskDate {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        Date today = new Date();
        Date birthday = stringToDate("May 8, 1981");
        // Date birthday = stringToDate("April 23, 2016");

        System.out.println(today);
        System.out.println(birthday);

        System.out.println(datesAreSame(today, birthday));
    }

    public static Date stringToDate(String str) {
        SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM d, yyyy");
        Date parsedDate = new Date();

        try {
            parsedDate = format.parse(str);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println(e.toString());
        }

        return parsedDate;
    }

    public static boolean datesAreSame(Date date1, Date date2) {
        SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM d, yyyy");
        return format.format(date1).equals(format.format(date2));
    }
}