code: public Date getDate(String fieldName) throws DbfException {
          Date value = (Date) get(fieldName);
          return value == null ? null : value;
      }
docs: Retrieves the value of the designated field as java.util.Date.
  
  @param fieldName the name of the field
  @return the field value, or null (if the dbf value is NULL)
  @throws DbfException if there's no field with name fieldName