public Date getDate(String fieldName, HCatSchema recordSchema) throws HCatException {
    return (Date) get(fieldName, recordSchema, Date.class);
  }
Note that the proper way to construct a java.sql.Date for use with this object is 
Date.valueOf("1999-12-31").
hcatalog/core/src/main/java/org/apache/hive/hcatalog/data/HCatRecord.java