HttpServlet类源码的getLastModified()返回值为什么是-1?

关于 HttpServlet

有关Last-Modified缓存机制

• 在客户端第一次输入url时，服务器端会返回内容和状态码200，表示请求成功，同时会添加一个“Last-Modified”的响应头，表示此文件在服务器上的最后更新时间；
• 客户端第二次请求此URL时，客户端会像服务器发送请求头“If-Modified-Since”，询问服务器该时间之后当前请求内容是否有被修改过，如果服务器的内容没有变化，则自动返回HTTP304状态码（只要响应头，内容为空，这样就节省了网络带宽）

今日复习servlet时读了HttpServlet的源码,发现了最后修改时间这个方法直接返回-1,那这样不是就无视lastModified,始终继续调用方法吗?NO,NO!可以在子类中进行覆写呀,这样就可以定义最后修改时间了呀!

 protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
        throws ServletException, IOException {

        String method = req.getMethod();

        if (method.equals(METHOD_GET)) {
            long lastModified = getLastModified(req);
            if (lastModified == -1) {
                // servlet doesn't support if-modified-since, no reason
                // to go through further expensive logic
                doGet(req, resp);
            } else {
                long ifModifiedSince;
                try {
                    ifModifiedSince = req.getDateHeader(HEADER_IFMODSINCE);
                } catch (IllegalArgumentException iae) {
                    // Invalid date header - proceed as if none was set
                    ifModifiedSince = -1;
                }
                if (ifModifiedSince < (lastModified / 1000 * 1000)) {
                    // If the servlet mod time is later, call doGet()
                    // Round down to the nearest second for a proper compare
                    // A ifModifiedSince of -1 will always be less
                    maybeSetLastModified(resp, lastModified);
                    doGet(req, resp);
                } else {
                    resp.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_MODIFIED);
                }
            }

        } else if (method.equals(METHOD_HEAD)) {
            long lastModified = getLastModified(req);
            maybeSetLastModified(resp, lastModified);
            doHead(req, resp);

        } else if (method.equals(METHOD_POST)) {
            doPost(req, resp);

        } else if (method.equals(METHOD_PUT)) {
            doPut(req, resp);

        } else if (method.equals(METHOD_DELETE)) {
            doDelete(req, resp);

        } else if (method.equals(METHOD_OPTIONS)) {
            doOptions(req,resp);

        } else if (method.equals(METHOD_TRACE)) {
            doTrace(req,resp);

        } else {
            //
            // Note that this means NO servlet supports whatever
            // method was requested, anywhere on this server.
            //

            String errMsg = lStrings.getString("http.method_not_implemented");
            Object[] errArgs = new Object[1];
            errArgs[0] = method;
            errMsg = MessageFormat.format(errMsg, errArgs);

            resp.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, errMsg);
        }
    }