Abstract class cannot be instantiated

Question

I had to create this point program a year ago, a year ago it worked fine. Now I have to revisit it and upon compiling and trying to run it I ran into the error of the fact that an abstract class cannot be instantiated. I have done some looking around online and figured out that some update or sort with Java has made it where the method of using PointClass point1 = new PointClass(); is no longer valid and will through an error.

I have yet to find an answer for fixing the error when trying to instantiate the class using a driver program. I also saw that in order to use an abstract class now, a subclass must be present. The thing is is that due to the instructions of the program I cannot use a subclass. Only the driver and the point class.

The program is very simple, just declare some points and call them from the abstract class in order to print to the screen. I need some help on figuring out the updated method to make this work again without the instantiated error.

The PointClass

public abstract class PointClass {
    private int pointX;
    private int pointY;

    //set instance variables
    public PointClass() { this.pointX = 10; this.pointY = 10; }

    public PointClass(int x, int y){ this.pointX = x; this.pointY = y; }

    //make getters and setters
    public void setPointX(int x) { this.pointX = x; }
    public void setPointY(int y) { this.pointY = y; }
    public int getPointX() { return this.pointX; }
    public int getPointY() { return this.pointY; }

    //make string for format with driver
    public String toString() { return "x = " + this.pointX + " y = " + this.pointY; }

}

The Driver

public class PointTest {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        System.out.println();

        PointClass point1 = new PointClass();         //set point1 as no argument 
        PointClass point2 = new PointClass(11, 24);  // set point2 as argument with x and y

        System.out.println("Point1: " + point1);  //display point1 from toString method
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("Point2: " + point2); //display point2 from toString method
        System.out.println("---------------------");
    }
}

Answer 1

The best thing to do would be to remove the abstract keyword. There's no need for it. Point has no abstract methods.

If you can't do that for whatever reason, you can create inline anonymous classes by adding curly braces after each instantiation:

PointClass point1 = new PointClass() { };
PointClass point2 = new PointClass(11, 24) { };

By the way, your claim that this used to work is incorrect. It has never been possible to directly instantiate an abstract class. That is in fact the entire point of the keyword, to prevent a class from being instantiated.