Instance

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What Does Instance Mean?

An instance is simply defined as a case or occurrence of anything. In computer technology, this could be an element, document type, or a document that conforms to a particular data type definition (DTD).

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An object belonging to a particular class, such as in Java, may also be described as an instance. Instances of a class share the same set of attributes, but each instance may differ in terms of what is contained in those attributes.

Techopedia Explains Instance

For example, a school class includes the following attributes: school_Name, school_Location, no_Of_Students and school_Board. These attributes are local to the school class and apply to every instance of the class. Consider two instances of a school class. Let the first instance include the values Thames Valley School, London, 355, and St.Thomas Board, respectively for the previously mentioned attributes, while the second instance includes values Cambridge Public School, West Hampshire, 200, and Cambridge Board, respectively. The two instances are distinct from each other and exist independant of each other. However, the basic structure of the class stays the same.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret é uma premiada redatora e professora conhecida por sua habilidade de explicar assuntos técnicos complexos para um público empresarial não técnico. Nos últimos vinte anos, suas definições de TI foram publicadas pela Que em uma enciclopédia de termos tecnológicos e citadas em artigos do New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine e Discovery Magazine. Ela ingressou na Techopedia em 2011. A ideia de Margaret de um dia divertido é ajudar os profissionais de TI e de negócios a aprenderem a falar os idiomas altamente especializados uns dos outros.