A question about abstract class

nf0001384 · January 23rd, 2008, 02:01 AM

In the Book Begging C# 2005 ,chapter 11, the try it out example Ch11Ex01:
I defined an abstract class called animal .
public abstract class Animal
As I have learned from the book ,abstract class can not be instantiated .
But in the code of Main block , the example used code as " Animal [] animalArray=new Animal[2]".

and the program runs without any problem . Is the sentence above instantiated the class "Animal"? Since I've learned , if I use the keyword "New" , that means I instantiate a class.

Is there something wrong about the concept?
If possible , please tell me ,I'd be appreciated.

joefawcett · January 23rd, 2008, 04:22 AM

No, that's declaring and creating an array that will hold Animal types. The Animal type cannot be instantiated directly, as you note, so it will end up holding concrete classes derived from Animal.

--

Joe (Microsoft MVP - XML)

weicco · January 23rd, 2008, 04:29 AM

Try to call for example animalArray[0].SomeAnimalMethod() and you'll see what happens ;)

samjudson · January 23rd, 2008, 05:32 AM

'new Animal[2]' does not create 2 new Animal classes, it creates one instances of an Array class, which is designed to hold two Animal instances. It does not create those instances, just holes where they can live.

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

vickyanu · April 5th, 2013, 05:57 AM

It is just an array declaration.

Code:

string [] names = new string[6]             //Declaration of array, 'name' with 6 
                                                       //elements of datatype, 'string'. 
Animal [] animalArray=new Animal[2]      //Similarly, declaration of array, 'animalArray' with 2 
                                                      //elements of derived type, 'Animal'.

The line of code has got nothing to do with instantiation of class, 'Animal'.

kevinwallace · July 22nd, 2013, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joefawcett

No, that's declaring and creating an array that will hold Animal types. The Animal type cannot be instantiated directly, as you note, so it will end up holding concrete classes derived from Animal.

--

Joe (Microsoft MVP - XML)

I am agree with your answer, and its helps to those who suffering form same problem.