static String getAsStringOrNull(Class<?> clazz, String constant) {
      try {
        return (String) clazz.getField(constant).get(null);
      } catch (Exception e) {
        return null;
      }
    }
This class is supplied for compatibility between Hive versions.
At 0.10 the serde constants were moved to another package.  Also,
at 0.11 the previous class will be re-added for backwards
compatibility, but deprecated.
ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/udf/esri/shims/HiveShims.java