For other uses, see Instance (disambiguation).

In computer science, an instance or token (from metalogic and metamathematics) is a specific occurrence of a software element that is based on a type definition.[1]: 1.3.2  When created, an occurrence is said to have been instantiated, and both the creation process and the result of creation are called instantiation.

Examples

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Chat AI instance
In chat-based AI systems, an assistant can be invoked across many independent conversation sessions (often called a thread), each with its own message history. A specific execution of the assistant over that session may be represented as a run (an execution on a thread).[2][3]
Class instance
In object-oriented programming, an object created from a class type. Each instance of a class shares the class-defined structure and behavior but has its own identity and state.[4][5]
Procedural instance
In some contexts (including Simula), each procedure call can be viewed as an instance of that procedure—an activation with its own parameters and local variables.[1]: 1.3.2 
Computer instance
In cloud computing and virtualization, an instance commonly refers to a provisioned virtual machine or virtual server with an allocated combination of compute, memory, network, and storage resources.[6][7]
Polygonal model
In computer graphics, a model may be instanced so it can be drawn multiple times with different transforms and parameters, improving performance by reusing shared geometry data.[8]
Program instance
In a POSIX-oriented operating system, a running process is an instance of a program. It can be instantiated via system calls such as fork() and exec(). Each executing process is an instance of a program it has been instantiated from.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b Dahl, Ole-Johan; Myhrhaug, Bjørn; Nygaard, Kristen (1970). Common Base Language (PDF) (Report). Norwegian Computing Center. Archived from the original on 2024-09-19. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  2. ^ "Runs (OpenAI API Reference)". OpenAI. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  3. ^ "Azure OpenAI Assistants API (Preview)". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  4. ^ "Chapter 4. Types, Values, and Variables (Java Language Specification)". Oracle. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  5. ^ "Classes and Objects (ISO C++ FAQ)". isocpp.org. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  6. ^ "What is Amazon EC2? (Concepts)". Amazon Web Services Documentation. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  7. ^ "What is a virtual machine (VM)?". Red Hat. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  8. ^ "Efficiently Drawing Multiple Instances of Geometry (Direct3D 9)". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  9. ^ Bach, Maurice J. (1986). The Design of the UNIX Operating System. Prentice Hall. pp. 10, 24. ISBN 0-13-201799-7. Archived from the original on 2010-03-15.

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