13.4. Evolution of Classes
This section describes the effects of changes to the declaration of a class and its members and constructors on pre-existing binaries.
13.4.1. abstract Classes
If a class that was not declared abstract is changed to be declared abstract, then pre-existing binaries that attempt to create new instances of that class will throw either an InstantiationError at link time, or (if a reflective method is used) an InstantiationException at run time; such a change is therefore not recommended for widely distributed classes.
Changing a class that is declared abstract to no longer be declared abstract does not break compatibility with pre-existing binaries.
13.4.2. final Classes
If a class that was not declared final is changed ...
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