Creating instance of static abstract class

Question

I know that abstract classes cannot be instantiated. But I have a doubt in the code below. This code is a part of android bitmap fun demo ( http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/androiddevelopers/shareables/training/BitmapFun.zip).

// ImageWorkerAdapter class is nested in another abstract class ImageWorker
public static abstract class ImageWorkerAdapter
{
public abstract Object getItem(int num);
public abstract int getSize();
}

//this snippet is seen in Images.java
public final static ImageWorkerAdapter imageWorkerUrlsAdapter = new ImageWorkerAdapter() { 
@Override
public Object getItem(int num) {
return Images.imageUrls[num];
}

I cannot understand how it is possible to create an instance of an abstract class. Please help me to understand this code.

Answer 1

This code represents the initialization of an anonymous class extending ImageWorkerAdapter abstract class:

new ImageWorkerAdapter() { 
    @Override
    public Object getItem(int num) {
    return Images.imageUrls[num];
}

Indeed, the anonymous implementation is defined between the curly braces.

As being an anonymous class, it's perfectly valid to rely on an abstract class or interface.