Virtual, override, and abstract methods

Virtual, override, and abstract methods

• When an instance method declaration includes a virtual modifier, the method is said to be a virtual method. When no virtual modifier is present, the method is said to be a non-virtual method.
• When a virtual method is invoked, the runtime type of the instance for which that invocation takes place determines the actual method implementation to invoke. In a nonvirtual method invocation, the compile-time type of the instance is the determining factor.
• A virtual method can be overridden in a derived class. When an instance method declaration includes an override modifier, the method overrides an inherited virtual method with the same signature. Whereas a virtual method declaration introduces a new method, an override method declaration specializes an existing inherited virtual method by providing a new implementation of that method.
• An abstract method is a virtual method with no implementation. An abstract method is declared with the abstract modifier and is permitted only in a class that is also declared abstract. An abstract method must be overridden in every non-abstract derived class.