Question: What is the difference between abstract class and interface?
Answer: If a class is to serve the purpose of providing common fields and members to all subclasses, we create an Abstract class. For creating an abstract class, we make use of the abstract keyword. Such a class cannot be instantiated. Syntax below:
abstract public class Vehicle { }
Above, an abstract class named Vehicle has been defined. We may use the fields, properties and member functions defined within this abstract class to create child classes like Car, Truck, Bike etc. that inherit the features defined within the abstract class. To prevent directly creating an instance of the class Vehicle, we make use of the abstract keyword. To use the definitions defined in the abstract class, the child class inherits from the abstract class, and then instances of the Child class may be easily created.
Further, we may define abstract methods within an abstract class (analogous to C++ pure virtual functions) when we wish to define a method that does not have any default implementation. Its then in the hands of the descendant class to provide the details of the method. There may be any number of abstract methods in an abstract class. We define an abstract method using the abstract keyword. If we do not use the abstract keyword, and use the virtual keyword instead, we may provide an implementation of the method that can be used by the child class, but this is not an abstract method.
Remember, abstract class can have an abstract method, that does not have any implementation, for which we use the abstract keyword, OR the abstract class may have a virtual method, that can have an implementation, and can be overriden in the child class as well, using the override keyword. Read example below
Example: Abstract Class with Abstract method?
namespace Automobiles
{
public abstract class Vehicle
{
public abstract void Speed() //No Implementation here, only definition
}
}
Example: Abstract Class with Virtual method
namespace Automobiles
{
public abstract class Vehicle
{
public virtual void Speed() //Can have an implementation, that may be overriden in child class
{
...
}
}
Public class Car : Vehicle
{
Public override void Speed()
//Here, we override whatever implementation is there in the abstract class
{
... //Child class implementation of the method Speed()
}
}
}
An Interface is a collection of semantically related abstract members. An interface expresses through the members it defines, the behaviors that a class needs to support. An interface is defined using the keyword interface. The members defined in an interface contain only definition, no implementation. The members of an interface are all public by default, any other access specifier cannot be used. See code below:
Public interface IVehicle //As a convention, an interface is prefixed by letter I
{
Boolean HasFourWheels()
}
Question: Difference between Abstract Class and Interface
Answer: 1) A class may inherit only one abstract class, but may implement multiple number of Interfaces. Say a class named Car needs to inherit some basic features of a vehicle, it may inherit from an Aabstract class named Vehicle. A car may be of any kind, it may be a vintage car, a sedan, a coupe, or a racing car. For these kind of requirements, say a car needs to have only two seats (means it is a coupe), then the class Car needs to implement a member field from an interface, that we make, say ICoupe.
2) Members of an abstract class may have any access modifier, but members of an interface are public by default, and cant have any other access modifier.
3) Abstract class methods may OR may not have an implementation, while methods in an Interface only have a definition, no implementation.
Question: What is Delegate
Answer:
Definition:
Delegate is type which holds the method(s) reference in an object. It is also reffered as a type safe function pointers.
Advantages:
Encapsulating the method's call from caller.
Effective use of Delegat improves the performance of application.
Used to call a method asynchronously.
Declaration:
public delegate type_of_delegate delegate_name()
Example : public delegate int mydelegate(int delvar1,int delvar2)
Note:
you can use delegeate without parameter or with parameter list.
you should follow the same syntax as in the method.
(if you are reffering the method with two int parameters and int return type the delegate which you are declaring should be the same format.This is how it is reffered as type safe function pointer)
Sample Program using Delegate :
public delegate double Delegate_Prod(int a,int b);
class Class1
{
static double fn_Prodvalues(int val1,int val2)
{
return val1*val2;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Creating the Delegate Instance
Delegate_Prod delObj = new Delegate_Prod(fn_Prodvalues);
Console.Write("Please Enter Values");
int v1 = Int32.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
int v2 = Int32.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
//use a delegate for processing
double res = delObj(v1,v2);
Console.WriteLine ("Result :"+res);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Explanation:
Here I have used a small program which demonstrates the use of delegate.
The delegate "Delegate_Prod" is declared with double return type and which accepts only two interger parameters.
Inside the Class the method named fn_Prodvalues is defined with double return type and two integer parameters.(The delegate and method is having the same signature and
parameters type)
Inside the Main method the delegate instance is created and the function name is passed to the delegae instace as following.
Delegate_Prod delObj = new Delegate_Prod(fn_Prodvalues);
After this we are accepting the two values from the user and passing those values to the delegate as we do using method .
delObj(v1,v2);
Here delegate object encapsulates the method functionalities and return the result as we specified in the method.
Multicast Delegate
It is a Delegate which holds the reference of more than one methods.
Multicast delegates must contain only methods that return void, else there is a run-time exception.
Simple Program using Multicast Delegate
delegate void Delegate_Multicast(int x, int y);
Class Class2
{
static void Method1(int x, int y) {
Console.WriteLine("You r in Method 1");
}
static void Method2(int x, int y) {
Console.WriteLine("You r in Method 2");
}
public static void Main()
{
Delegate_Multicast func = new Delegate_Multicast(Method1);
func += new Delegate_Multicast(Method2);
func(1,2); // Method1 and Method2 are called
func -= new Delegate_Multicast(Method1);
func(2,3); // Only Method2 is called
}
}
Explanation:
In the above example you can see that two methods are defined named method1 and method2 whchi takes two integer parameters and return type as void.
In the main method the Delegate object is created using the following statement
Delegate_Multicast func = new Delegate_Multicast(Method1);
Then the Delegate is added using the += operator and removed using -= operator.
