Instantiation (computer science)
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Instantiation is the process of creating a specific object which is a member or instance of a class. It involves creating a physical instance of a declared object or class.
Usually this is done via an explicitly coded constructor, although most object-orientated programming launguages allow the programmer to use a default constructor which is not part of the source code.
The usage of the term instance in this way considerably predates computing. For instance, in Chapter 39 of Bleak House by Charles Dickens, first published in 1852, one of the characters asks the question "Can you instance any type of that class?".
- See also: object lifetime.