I\'m originally a Java programmer who now works with Objective-C. I\'d like to create an abstract class, but that doesn\'t appear to be possible in Objective-C. Is this poss
Instead of trying to create an abstract base class, consider using a protocol (similar to a Java interface). This allows you to define a set of methods, and then accept all objects that conform to the protocol and implement the methods. For example, I can define an Operation protocol, and then have a function like this:
- (void)performOperation:(id)op
{
// do something with operation
}
Where op can be any object implementing the Operation protocol.
If you need your abstract base class to do more than simply define methods, you can create a regular Objective-C class and prevent it from being instantiated. Just override the - (id)init function and make it return nil or assert(false). It's not a very clean solution, but since Objective-C is fully dynamic, there's really no direct equivalent to an abstract base class.