Abstract class methods

Question

I'm confused. Is this true or false.
The great thing about polymorphism is that you can call one method. If the subclass inherited that method, it will be customized and perform a different duty. That way, the action it performs will depend on 1>whether or not it's a sub or super class and also 2>if the method was overridden if it was a subclass.
Now, my confusion. If an object reference is to a Super-abstract-class... how do the method calls and properties go?? well let me let you answer for me. Thanks so much in advance for this clarification.

Answer 1

Yes. You are - pretty much.
The abstract class, as such, can never be instantiated. BUT a class derived from the superclass IS an instance of the superclass.
Silly example:
abstract public class Animal {
   public Animal() {
   public abstract int getNumberOfLegs();
}That's our animal class, and we know that anything that's an animal has a number of legs - but we can't just create a "generic" animal.
public class Cat extends Animal {
   public Cat() {
      super();
   public int getNumberOfLegs() {
      return legCount;
   public void maim(int legsToRemove) {
      legCount -= legsToRemove;
      if(legCount < 0 ) legCount = 0;
   private int legCount = 4;
}A Cat is a specific type of animal, so we can find out how many legs it has (usually 4). Note again that a cat IS an animal, so Cat IS an instance of Animal.
Java even provides a special operator to test this:
Cat cat = new Cat();
System.out.println("A cat is a cat: " + (cat instanceof Cat));
System.out.println("A cat is an animal: " + (cat instanceof Animal));The term used to describe the "Guarantee" that a subclass of an abstract class (or an implementation of an interface) is usually and technically a "contract", but I prefer to think of it as a "Promise" since you can break the promise by messing with the bytecode - at which point the JVM will spot the lie and complain !
D.