The problem you are facing refer to part of OOP called polymorphism
Instead of abstract class i will be using a interface, the difference between interface an abstract class is that interface have only method descriptors, a abstract class can have also method with implementation.
public interface InterfaceOfPigKiller {
void catchPig();
void cleanPig();
void killPig();
}
In the abstract class we implement two of three available methods, because we assume that those operation are common for every future type that will inherit form our class.
public abstract class AbstractPigKiller implements InterfaceOfPigKiller{
private Ping pig;
public void catchPig() {
//the logic of catching pigs.
}
public void cleanPig() {
// the logic of pig cleaning.
}
}
Now we will create two new classes:
public class AnimalKiller extends AbstractPigKiller {
public void killPig() {
// The killing operation
}
}
public class AnimalSaver extends AbstractPigKiller {
public void killPing() {
// The operation that will make pig free
}
}
As we have our structure lets see how it will work.
First the method that will execute the sequence:
public void doTheRequiredOperation(InterfaceOfPigKiller killer) {
killer.catchPig();
killer.cleanPig();
killer.killPig();
}
As we see in the parameter we do not use class AnimalKiller or AnimalSever. Instead of that we have the interface. Thank to this operation we can operate on any class that implement used interface.
Example 1:
public void test() {
AnimalKiller aKiller = new AnimalKiller();// We create new instance of class AnimalKiller and assign to variable aKiller with is type of `AnimalKilleraKiller `
AnimalSaver aSaver = new AnimalSaver(); //
doTheRequiredOperation(aKiller);
doTheRequiredOperation(aSaver);
}
Example 2:
public void test() {
InterfaceOfPigKiller aKiller = new AnimalKiller();// We create new instance of class AnimalKiller and assign to variable aKiller with is type of `InterfaceOfPigKiller `
InterfaceOfPigKiller aSaver = new AnimalSaver(); //
doTheRequiredOperation(aKiller);
doTheRequiredOperation(aSaver);
}
The code example 1 and 2 are equally in scope of method doTheRequiredOperation. The difference is that in we assign once type to type and in the second we assign type to interface.
Conclusion
We can not create new object of abstract class or interface but we can assign object to interface or class type.