bson/src/main/org/bson/BasicBSONObject.java
public Date getDate(final String field, final Date def) {
        Object foo = get(field);
        return (foo != null) ? (Date) foo : def;
    }
public Date getDate(final String field, final Date def) {
        Object foo = get(field);
        return (foo != null) ? (Date) foo : def;
    }
public Date getDate ( final String field , final Date def ) { Object foo = get ( field ) ; return ( foo != null ) ? ( Date ) foo : def ; }
Returns the date or def if not set.

@param field The field to return
@param def   the default value in case the field is not found
@return The field object value or def if not set.
Returns the date or def if not set .