一个稍微简单一点的选择:

System.currentTimeMillis() - oldDate.getTime()

至于“更好”，你到底需要什么?将时间持续时间表示为小时数和天数等的问题是，由于日期的复杂性，它可能导致不准确和错误的期望(例如，由于夏令时，一天可能有23或25小时)。

让我来看看Joda Interval和Days之间的差异:

DateTime start = new DateTime(2012, 2, 6, 10, 44, 51, 0);
DateTime end = new DateTime(2012, 2, 6, 11, 39, 47, 1);
Interval interval = new Interval(start, end);
Period period = interval.toPeriod();
System.out.println(period.getYears() + " years, " + period.getMonths() + " months, " + period.getWeeks() + " weeks, " + period.getDays() + " days");
System.out.println(period.getHours() + " hours, " + period.getMinutes() + " minutes, " + period.getSeconds() + " seconds ");
//Result is:
//0 years, 0 months, *1 weeks, 1 days*
//0 hours, 54 minutes, 56 seconds 

//Period can set PeriodType,such as PeriodType.yearMonthDay(),PeriodType.yearDayTime()...
Period p = new Period(start, end, PeriodType.yearMonthDayTime());
System.out.println(p.getYears() + " years, " + p.getMonths() + " months, " + p.getWeeks() + " weeks, " + p.getDays() + "days");
System.out.println(p.getHours() + " hours, " + p.getMinutes() + " minutes, " + p.getSeconds() + " seconds ");
//Result is:
//0 years, 0 months, *0 weeks, 8 days*
//0 hours, 54 minutes, 56 seconds 

一个稍微简单一点的选择:

System.currentTimeMillis() - oldDate.getTime()

至于“更好”，你到底需要什么?将时间持续时间表示为小时数和天数等的问题是，由于日期的复杂性，它可能导致不准确和错误的期望(例如，由于夏令时，一天可能有23或25小时)。

在某些地区使用毫秒方法可能会导致问题。

举个例子，03/24/2007和03/25/2007之间的差应该是1天;

然而，如果使用毫秒路径，你将得到0天，如果你在英国运行这个!

/** Manual Method - YIELDS INCORRECT RESULTS - DO NOT USE**/  
/* This method is used to find the no of days between the given dates */  
public long calculateDays(Date dateEarly, Date dateLater) {  
   return (dateLater.getTime() - dateEarly.getTime()) / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);  
} 

更好的实现方法是使用java.util.Calendar

/** Using Calendar - THE CORRECT WAY**/  
public static long daysBetween(Calendar startDate, Calendar endDate) {  
  Calendar date = (Calendar) startDate.clone();  
  long daysBetween = 0;  
  while (date.before(endDate)) {  
    date.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, 1);  
    daysBetween++;  
  }  
  return daysBetween;  
}  

这可能是最直接的方法了——也许是因为我已经用Java编写了一段时间了(它的日期和时间库确实很笨拙)，但对我来说，代码看起来“简单而漂亮”!

您是否对以毫秒为单位返回的结果感到满意，或者您的问题的一部分是希望以某种替代格式返回?

这是一个正确的Java 7解决方案，没有任何依赖。

public static int countDaysBetween(Date date1, Date date2) {

    Calendar c1 = removeTime(from(date1));
    Calendar c2 = removeTime(from(date2));

    if (c1.get(YEAR) == c2.get(YEAR)) {

        return Math.abs(c1.get(DAY_OF_YEAR) - c2.get(DAY_OF_YEAR)) + 1;
    }
    // ensure c1 <= c2
    if (c1.get(YEAR) > c2.get(YEAR)) {
        Calendar c = c1;
        c1 = c2;
        c2 = c;
    }
    int y1 = c1.get(YEAR);
    int y2 = c2.get(YEAR);
    int d1 = c1.get(DAY_OF_YEAR);
    int d2 = c2.get(DAY_OF_YEAR);

    return d2 + ((y2 - y1) * 365) - d1 + countLeapYearsBetween(y1, y2) + 1;
}

private static int countLeapYearsBetween(int y1, int y2) {

    if (y1 < 1 || y2 < 1) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Year must be > 0.");
    }
    // ensure y1 <= y2
    if (y1 > y2) {
        int i = y1;
        y1 = y2;
        y2 = i;
    }

    int diff = 0;

    int firstDivisibleBy4 = y1;
    if (firstDivisibleBy4 % 4 != 0) {
        firstDivisibleBy4 += 4 - (y1 % 4);
    }
    diff = y2 - firstDivisibleBy4 - 1;
    int divisibleBy4 = diff < 0 ? 0 : diff / 4 + 1;

    int firstDivisibleBy100 = y1;
    if (firstDivisibleBy100 % 100 != 0) {
        firstDivisibleBy100 += 100 - (firstDivisibleBy100 % 100);
    }
    diff = y2 - firstDivisibleBy100 - 1;
    int divisibleBy100 = diff < 0 ? 0 : diff / 100 + 1;

    int firstDivisibleBy400 = y1;
    if (firstDivisibleBy400 % 400 != 0) {
        firstDivisibleBy400 += 400 - (y1 % 400);
    }
    diff = y2 - firstDivisibleBy400 - 1;
    int divisibleBy400 = diff < 0 ? 0 : diff / 400 + 1;

    return divisibleBy4 - divisibleBy100 + divisibleBy400;
}


public static Calendar from(Date date) {

    Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
    c.setTime(date);

    return c;
}


public static Calendar removeTime(Calendar c) {

    c.set(HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
    c.set(MINUTE, 0);
    c.set(SECOND, 0);
    c.set(MILLISECOND, 0);

    return c;
}