Instance

Short note

This is a brief note that needs expansion.

An instance is a concrete, existing member of a class.

To instance is to create something in accordance with its class.

Instances are members of the same class.

Instances in generalisation

A generalisation is a statement about a class that applies to all of its instances. For example, the generalisation “all programming languages have syntax” applies to every instance of a programming language (Python, JavaScript, etc.).

The instances in a generalisation are members of some class, distinguishing generalisation from ambiguity, where interpretations are mutually independent.

Related: Generalisation, On ambiguity