Abstract classes

abstract class is a class that is designed to be specifically used as a base class.
abstract class contains at least one pure virtual function. You declare a pure virtual function
by using a pure specifier (= 0) in the declaration of a virtual member function in the class declaration

class Box {
   public:
      // pure virtual function
      virtual double getVolume() = 0;
      
   private:
      double length;      // Length of a box
      double breadth;     // Breadth of a box
      double height;      // Height of a box
};

Abstract Class Example

Consider the following example where parent class provides an interface to the base class to implement a function called getArea() −

#include <iostream.h>
 
using namespace std;
 
// Base class
class Shape {
   public:
      // pure virtual function providing interface framework.
      virtual int getArea() = 0;
      void setWidth(int w) {
         width = w;
      }
   
      void setHeight(int h) {
         height = h;
      }
   
   protected:
      int width;
      int height;
};
 
// Derived classes
class Rectangle: public Shape {
   public:
      int getArea() { 
         return (width * height); 
      }
};

class Triangle: public Shape {
   public:
      int getArea() { 
         return (width * height)/2; 
      }
};
 
int main(void) {
   Rectangle Rect;
   Triangle  Tri;
 
   Rect.setWidth(5);
   Rect.setHeight(7);
   
   // Print the area of the object.
   cout << "Total Rectangle area: " << Rect.getArea() << endl;

   Tri.setWidth(5);
   Tri.setHeight(7);
   
   // Print the area of the object.
   cout << "Total Triangle area: " << Tri.getArea() << endl; 

   return 0;
}

Output

Total Rectangle area: 35
Total Triangle area: 17

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