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GeezerVison is showing en.wikipedia.org — Object (computer science) - Wikipedia

(Redirected from Identity (object-oriented programming))
This article's lead section may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts. (October 2026) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In software development, an object is a semantic entity that has state, behavior, and identity.[1][2][3][4] An object can model some part of reality or can be an invention of the design process whose collaborations with other such objects serve as the mechanisms that provide some higher-level behavior. Put another way, an object represents an individual, identifiable item, unit, or entity, either real or abstract, with a well-defined role in the problem domain.[1]: 76 

A programming language can be classified based on its support for objects. A language that provides an encapsulation construct for state, behavior, and identity is classified as object-based. If the language also provides polymorphism and inheritance it is classified as object-oriented.[5] A language that supports creating an object from a class is classified as class-based. A language that supports object creation via a template object is classified as prototype-based.

The concept of object is used in many different software contexts, including:

  • Possibly the most common use is in-memory objects in a computer program written in an object-based language.
  • Information systems can be modeled with objects representing their components and interfaces.[1]: 39 
  • In the relational model of database management, aspects such as table and column may act as objects.[6]
  • Objects of a distributed computing system tend to be larger grained, longer lasting, and more service-oriented than programming objects.

In purely object-oriented programming languages, such as Java and C#, all classes might be part of an inheritance tree with some root type (see any type), and all objects are either instances of the root type or descend from it; in Java, this type is java.lang.Object; in C#/.NET, this is System.Object.

See also

  • Attribute (object-oriented programming)
  • Business object
  • Class (computer programming)
  • Class-based programming
  • Data transfer object
  • Declaration (computer programming)
  • Distributed object
  • Instance (computer science)
  • Metaobject
  • Method (computer programming)
  • Object-capability model
  • Object composition
  • Object copying
  • Object graph
  • Object lifetime
  • Object-based language
  • Object-oriented programming
  • Pointer (computer programming)
  • Reference (computer science)
  • Semantics (logic)
  • Value object

References

  1. 1 2 3 Grady Booch; Robert Maksimchuk; Michael Engle; Bobbi Young; Jim Conallen; Kelli Houston (April 30, 2007). Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications (3 ed.). Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0201895513.
  2. ↑ Adolfo M. Nemirovsky. "Is Schrödinger's Cat Object-Oriented?" (PDF). www.literateprogramming.com.
  3. ↑ "Distributed Object-Based Programming Systems". dl.acm.org.
  4. ↑ "Dimensions of Object-Based Language Design". dl.acm.org.
  5. ↑ "A Brief History of the Object-Oriented Approach" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-08.
  6. ↑ Oppel, Andy (2005). SQL Demystified. McGraw Hill. p. 7. ISBN 0-07-226224-9.

External links

  • What Is an Object? from The Java Tutorials
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