Glossary: Abstract Base Class
Through the mechanism of
inheritance
more specific
classes
can be developed from more generic ones. It can happen, particularly in deep
inheritance trees, that the classes at the base of the tree are so generic as
to be abstract; there being no single implementation that can do justice to
the concept the classes embodies. In C++ such classes are called abstract
base classes. It is not possible to create
(i.e. instantiate)
objects of such a class, their only purpose is to act as
base classes
on which other classes may be built.
For example, the ROOT class
TIterator
is abstract, it has the
member function
Next, which is used to iterate over the members of a collection, but it is
only in classes that inherit from it that way the collection is managed is
sufficiently specific that the Next function can be realised.
See OO Concepts: Interfaces & Abstract Classes
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Nick West