Declaring abstract method in TypeScript

If you take Erics answer a little further you can actually create a pretty decent implementation of abstract classes, with full support for polymorphism and the ability to call implemented methods from the base class. Let's start with the code:

/**
 * The interface defines all abstract methods and extends the concrete base class
 */
interface IAnimal extends Animal {
    speak() : void;
}

/**
 * The abstract base class only defines concrete methods & properties.
 */
class Animal {

    private _impl : IAnimal;

    public name : string;

    /**
     * Here comes the clever part: by letting the constructor take an 
     * implementation of IAnimal as argument Animal cannot be instantiated
     * without a valid implementation of the abstract methods.
     */
    constructor(impl : IAnimal, name : string) {
        this.name = name;
        this._impl = impl;

        // The `impl` object can be used to delegate functionality to the
        // implementation class.
        console.log(this.name + " is born!");
        this._impl.speak();
    }
}

class Dog extends Animal implements IAnimal {
    constructor(name : string) {
        // The child class simply passes itself to Animal
        super(this, name);
    }

    public speak() {
        console.log("bark");
    }
}

var dog = new Dog("Bob");
dog.speak(); //logs "bark"
console.log(dog instanceof Dog); //true
console.log(dog instanceof Animal); //true
console.log(dog.name); //"Bob"

Since the Animal class requires an implementation of IAnimal it's impossible to construct an object of type Animal without having a valid implementation of the abstract methods. Note that for polymorphism to work you need to pass around instances of IAnimal, not Animal. E.g.:

//This works
function letTheIAnimalSpeak(animal: IAnimal) {
    console.log(animal.name + " says:");
    animal.speak();
}
//This doesn't ("The property 'speak' does not exist on value of type 'Animal')
function letTheAnimalSpeak(animal: Animal) {
    console.log(animal.name + " says:");
    animal.speak();
}

The main difference here with Erics answer is that the "abstract" base class requires an implementation of the interface, and thus cannot be instantiated on it's own.

The name property is marked as protected. This was added in TypeScript 1.3 and is now firmly established.

The makeSound method is marked as abstract, as is the class. You cannot directly instantiate an Animal now, because it is abstract. This is part of TypeScript 1.6, which is now officially live.

abstract class Animal {
    constructor(protected name: string) { }

    abstract makeSound(input : string) : string;

    move(meters) {
        alert(this.name + " moved " + meters + "m.");
    }
}

class Snake extends Animal {
    constructor(name: string) { super(name); }

    makeSound(input : string) : string {
        return "sssss"+input;
    }

    move() {
        alert("Slithering...");
        super.move(5);
    }
}

The old way of mimicking an abstract method was to throw an error if anyone used it. You shouldn't need to do this any more once TypeScript 1.6 lands in your project:

class Animal {
    constructor(public name) { }
    makeSound(input : string) : string {
        throw new Error('This method is abstract');
    }
    move(meters) {
        alert(this.name + " moved " + meters + "m.");
    }
}

class Snake extends Animal {
    constructor(name) { super(name); }
    makeSound(input : string) : string {
        return "sssss"+input;
    }
    move() {
        alert("Slithering...");
        super.move(5);
    }
}