Abstract Class

A class which contains the abstract keyword in its declaration is known as

 Abstract classes may or may not contain abstract methods ie., methods with out
body ( public void get(); )

 But, if a class have at least one abstract method, then the class must be
declared abstract.

 If a class is declared abstract it cannot be instantiated.

 To use an abstract class you have to inherit it from another class, provide
implementations to the abstract methods in it.

 If you inherit an abstract class you have to provide implementations to all the
abstract methods in it.

Example
This section provides you an example of the abstract class to create an abstract class
just use the abstract keyword before the class keyword, in the class declaration .
/* File name : Employee.java */

public abstract class Employee

private String name;

private String address;

private int number;

public Employee(String name, String address, int number)

System.out.println("Constructing an Employee");

this.name = name;

this.address = address;

this.number = number;

public double computePay()

{
 System.out.println("Inside Employee computePay");

return 0.0;

public void mailCheck()

System.out.println("Mailing a check to " + this.name

+ " " + this.address);

public String toString()

return name + " " + address + " " + number;

public String getName()

return name;

public String getAddress()

return address;

public void setAddress(String newAddress)

address = newAddress;

public int getNumber()

return number;

You can observe that except abstract methods the Employee class is same
as normal class in Java. The class is now abstract, but it still has three fields,
seven methods, and one constructor.
Now you can try to instantiate the Employee class as shown below:

/* File name : AbstractDemo.java */

public class AbstractDemo

public static void main(String [] args)

/* Following is not allowed and would raise error */

Employee e = new Employee("George W.", "Houston, TX", 43);

System.out.println("\n Call mailCheck using Employee reference--");

e.mailCheck();

When you compile the above class, it gives you the following error:

Employee.java:46: Employee is abstract; cannot be instantiated

Employee e = new Employee("George W.", "Houston, TX", 43);

1 error

Inheriting the Abstract Class:

/* File name : Salary.java */

public class Salary extends Employee

private double salary; //Annual salary

public Salary(String name, String address, int number, double

salary)

super(name, address, number);

setSalary(salary);
 }

public void mailCheck()

System.out.println("Within mailCheck of Salary class ");

System.out.println("Mailing check to " + getName()

+ " with salary " + salary);

public double getSalary()

return salary;

public void setSalary(double newSalary)

if(newSalary >= 0.0)

salary = newSalary;

public double computePay()

System.out.println("Computing salary pay for " + getName());

return salary/52;

Here, you cannot instantiate the Employee class, but you can instantiate the
Salary Class, and using this instance you can access the all the three fields
and seven methods of Employee class as shown below.

/* File name : AbstractDemo.java */

public class AbstractDemo

public static void main(String [] args)

{
 Salary s = new Salary("Mohd Mohtashim", "Ambehta, UP", 3, 3600.00);

Employee e = new Salary("John Adams", "Boston, MA", 2, 2400.00);

System.out.println("Call mailCheck using Salary reference --");

s.mailCheck();

System.out.println("\n Call mailCheck using Employee reference--");

e.mailCheck();

This produces the following result:

Constructing an Employee
Constructing an Employee
Call mailCheck using Salary reference --
Within mailCheck of Salary class
ailing check to Mohd Mohtashim with salary 3600.0

Call mailCheck using Employee reference--

Abstract Methods:
If you want a class to contain a particular method but you want the actual
implementation of that method to be determined by child classes, you can
declare the method in the parent class as abstract.

 abstract keyword is used to declare the method as abstract.

 You have to place the abstract keyword before the method name in the method
declaration.

 An abstract method contains a method signature, but no method body.

 Instead of curly braces an abstract method will have a semoi colon ( ; ) at the
end.
Below given is an example of the abstract method.

public abstract class Employee

private String name;

private String address;

private int number;

public abstract double computePay();

//Remainder of class definition

Declaring a method as abstract has two consequences:

 The class containing it must be declared as abstract.

 Any class inheriting the current class must either override the abstract method
or declare itself as abstract.

Note: Eventually, a descendant class has to implement the abstract

Suppose Salary class is inherits the Employee class, then it should

/* File name : Salary.java */

public class Salary extends Employee

private double salary; // Annual salary

public double computePay()

System.out.println("Computing salary pay for " + getName());

return salary/52;
 }

//Remainder of class definition