parsing MonthDate string in a leap year
<p>please consider the following snippet:</p>

<pre><code>    SimpleDateFormat parser = new SimpleDateFormat("MMdd");
    parser.setLenient(false);
    try {
        Date date = parser.parse("0229");
        System.out.println(date);
    } catch (ParseException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
</code></pre>

<p>I have a text field which should contain a date in the format MMdd (no year, as it should always default to the current year). </p>

<p>This year, 2012, a leap year, I found myself in the strange situation of not being able to parse the valid date February 29th. </p>

<p>The calendar used by the code above always defaults to 1970, which, though luck, was not a leap year. Hence trying to parse "0229" always throws a parse exception.</p>

<p>Any idea on how to parse this?</p>
