When would you most likely use an abstract class in programming?

An abstract class serves as a blueprint for other classes. Its primary purpose is to define a common interface and share behaviors or attributes amongst its subclasses while preventing itself from being instantiated directly. This means that if there is a class that represents a general concept but is not complete enough to create objects from (like a general shape class), it is more effective to utilize an abstract class.

Using an abstract class allows for the inclusion of abstract methods that do not have implementations and must be defined in the subclasses, enforcing a contract for those derived classes. This ensures that every subclass provides specific implementations of the abstract methods, which is particularly useful in scenarios requiring polymorphic behavior.

When you want to provide a common base that encapsulates certain functionalities and attributes while delegating specific behaviors to derived classes, an abstract class is the ideal choice. This design promotes orderly and scalable code, aligning perfectly with principles of Object Oriented Programming such as code reusability and encapsulation.