What is difference between abstract class and interface?

• Abstract class may or may not be contain abstract methods but a class should be called as abstract when it contains at least one abstract method. It can also contain n numbers of concrete method. Interface can contain only abstract ( non implemented) methods.
• The abstract class can have public, private, protect or default variables and also constants. In interface the variable is by default public final. In nutshell the interface doesn’t have any variables it only has constants.
• A class can extend only one abstract class but an interface can extend multiple interfaces.
• If an interface is implemented its compulsory to implement all of its methods but if an abstract class is extended its not compulsory to implement all methods.
• The problem with an interface is, if you want to add a new feature (method) in its contract, then you MUST implement those method in all of the classes which implement that interface. However, in the case of an abstract class, the method can be simply implemented in the abstract class and the same can be called by its subclass.

Narayanaswamy

Hello! I am Narayanaswamy founder and admin of narayanatutorial.com. I have been working in the IT industry for more than 12 years. NarayanaTutorial is my web technologies blog. My specialties are Java / J2EE, Spring, Hibernate, Struts, Webservices, PHP, Oracle, MySQL, SQLServer, Web Hosting, Website Development, and IAM(ForgeRock) Specialist

I am a self-learner and passionate about training and writing. I am always trying my best to share my knowledge through my blog.