Shouldn't it perfectly legal to write private abstract methods in enums? Is there a reason to forbid it that I cannot see?
A toy code example that does not compile is below; Lets assume I do not want to commit to any api other than the singleton being multiple or not.
Note that this can be implemented without abstract methods but this is just an example. I am asking if there is a general reason to forbid it.
enum Count{
SINGLE {
private int howMany() {
return 1;
}
},
DOUBLE{
private int howMany() {
return 2;
}
};
private abstract int howMany();// !! this declaration is illegal
public boolean isMultiple(){
return this.howMany() > 1;
}
}
public static void main (String... args){
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(Count.values()));
for(Count s : Count.values()){
System.out.println(s.howMany() + " is " + (s.isMultiple() ? "many" : "one"));
}
}
edit1: This is not asking why private abstract methods are forbidden in general. I am asking why use of it in enums is illegal providing an example that such use would make sense. This is not a duplicate. I couldn't find the answer in Stackoverflow. The answer to the general case does not apply here.
