[355] in java-interest
Re: confusion over which method is invoked
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan Adams)
Thu Jun 15 23:15:16 1995
From: Jonathan Adams <jonathan@smada.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 95 19:46:37 -0700
To: Steve Drach <Steve.Drach@Eng.Sun.COM>
Cc: java-interest@java.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: jonathan_adams@smada.com
Steve Drach said:
>I had also mistakenly assumed that abstract == virtual. However I
>now see that "abstract methods provide a means...to define a
>protocol..." But, since all methods are virtual methods, what real
>purpose does an abstract method (in a class, not an interface)
>serve? Is it there just to prevent instantiation of the class
>containing the abstract method?
It does prevent instantiation, but the *point* of an abstract
method is to define a method that all instantiable object of any
subclass will respond to. It is defining a protocol, basically.
- Jonathan Adams
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