C# - Part 33 - What is an abstract class? 🤔 - Tutorial For Beginners

In C#, abstract classes and methods are tools to achieve abstraction, which is a core concept in object-oriented programming. Abstraction lets you focus on the "what" instead of the "how" of things.

Abstract Class:

* An abstract class is a blueprint that cannot be used to create objects directly.
* It defines a general concept or behavior that specific things can share.
* Think of it as a template that provides a structure for creating related objects.
* Other classes inherit from abstract classes to gain access to their members and provide concrete implementations.

Abstract Method:

* An abstract method is a method declared within an abstract class that has no implementation (body).
* It acts like a placeholder, specifying what needs to be done but not how.
* Classes inheriting the abstract class must provide their own implementation for the abstract method.
* This enforces a common functionality across derived classes while allowing for specific variations.

Here's an analogy:

Imagine an abstract class called "Shape." It might have abstract methods like "CalculateArea()" and "Draw()." These methods define what a shape should be able to do, but they don't specify how (e.g., the formula for calculating area). Specific shapes like "Square" or "Circle" inherit from "Shape" and provide their own implementations for these methods based on their unique properties.