title: Can we use AbstractList instead of the List interface to hold an Arraylist instance?
body: <p>Generally we use code to interface :</p>
  
  <pre><code>List&lt;String&gt; list  = new ArrayList&lt;String&gt;();
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can we write the following? </p>
  
  <pre><code>AbstractList&lt;String&gt; list  = new ArrayList&lt;String&gt;();
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What will be the disadvantage of this particular initialization? Any insights will be appreciated.</p>