instantiation

instantiation (ɪnˌstænʃɪˈeɪʃən)
—n
1.	the act or an instance of instantiating
2.	the representation of (an abstraction) by a concrete example
3.	logic
	a.  the process of deriving an individual statement from a general one by replacing the variable with a name or other referring expression
	b.  the valid inference of an instance from a universally quantified statement, as David is rational from all men are rational
	c.  a statement so derived

instantiation definition

programming
Producing a more defined version of some object by replacing variables with values (or other variables).
1. In object-oriented programming, producing a particular object from its class template. This involves allocation of a structure with the types specified by the template, and initialisation of instance variables with either default values or those provided by the class's constructor function.
2. In unification, (as used in logic programming, type checking and type inference), binding a logic variable (type variable) to some value (type).
(1995-03-28)