8.1.2 Class Modifiers

A class declaration may include class modifiers. 

ClassModifiers:

	ClassModifier

	ClassModifiers ClassModifier

ClassModifier: one of

	public abstract final

The access modifier public is discussed in §6.6. A compile-time error occurs if the same modifier appears more than once in a class declaration. If two or more class modifiers appear in a class declaration, then it is customary, though not required, that they appear in the order consistent with that shown above in the production for ClassModifier.

8.1.2.1 abstract Classes

An abstract class is a class that is incomplete, or to be considered incomplete. Only abstract classes may have abstract methods (§8.4.3.1, §9.4), that is, methods that are declared but not yet implemented. If a class that is not abstract contains an abstract method, then a compile-time error occurs. A class has abstract methods if any of the following is true:

In the example: 


abstract class Point {
	int x = 1, y = 1;
	void move(int dx, int dy) {
		x += dx;
		y += dy;
		alert();
	}
	abstract void alert();
}


abstract class ColoredPoint extends Point {
	int color;
}


class SimplePoint extends Point {
	void alert() { }
}

a class Point is declared that must be declared abstract, because it contains a declaration of an abstract method named alert. The subclass of Point named ColoredPoint inherits the abstract method alert, so it must also be declared abstract. On the other hand, the subclass of Point named SimplePoint provides an implementation of alert, so it need not be abstract.

A compile-time error occurs if an attempt is made to create an instance of an abstract class using a class instance creation expression (§15.8). An attempt to instantiate an abstract class using the newInstance method of class Class (§20.3.6) will cause an InstantiationException (§11.5.1) to be thrown. Thus, continuing the example just shown, the statement:

	Point p = new Point();

would result in a compile-time error; the class Point cannot be instantiated because it is abstract. However, a Point variable could correctly be initialized with a reference to any subclass of Point, and the class SimplePoint is not abstract, so the statement: 

	Point p = new SimplePoint();

would be correct.

A subclass of an abstract class that is not itself abstract may be instantiated, resulting in the execution of a constructor for the abstract class and, therefore, the execution of the field initializers for instance variables of that class. Thus, in the example just given, instantiation of a SimplePoint causes the default constructor and field initializers for x and y of Point to be executed.

It is a compile-time error to declare an abstract class type such that it is not possible to create a subclass that implements all of its abstract methods. This situation can occur if the class would have as members two abstract methods that have the same method signature (§8.4.2) but different return types. As an example, the declarations:


interface Colorable { void setColor(int color); }

abstract class Colored implements Colorable {
	abstract int setColor(int color);
}

result in a compile-time error: it would be impossible for any subclass of class Colored to provide an implementation of a method named setColor, taking one argument of type int, that can satisfy both abstract method specifications, because the one in interface Colorable requires the same method to return no value, while the one in class Colored requires the same method to return a value of type int (§8.4).

A class type should be declared abstract only if the intent is that subclasses can be created to complete the implementation. If the intent is simply to prevent instantiation of a class, the proper way to express this is to declare a constructor (§8.6.8) of no arguments, make it private, never invoke it, and declare no other constructors. A class of this form usually contains class methods and variables. The class java.lang.Math is an example of a class that cannot be instantiated; its declaration looks like this:


public final class Math {

	private Math() { }							// never instantiate this class


	declarations of class variables and methods

}

8.1.2.2 final Classes

A class can be declared final if its definition is complete and no subclasses are desired or required. A compile-time error occurs if the name of a final class appears in the extends clause (§8.1.3) of another class declaration; this implies that a final class cannot have any subclasses. A compile-time error occurs if a class is declared both final and abstract, because the implementation of such a class could never be completed (§8.1.2.1).

Because a final class never has any subclasses, the methods of a final class are never overridden (§8.4.6.1).