1.3. Objects

Class Instantiation, Reference Values, and References

The process of creating objects from a class is called instantiation. An object is an instance of a class. The object is constructed using the class as a blueprint and is a concrete instance of the abstraction that the class represents. An object must be created before it can be used in a program.

A reference value is returned when an object is created. A reference value denotes a particular object. An object reference (or simply reference) is a variable that can store a reference value. A reference thus provides a handle to an object, as it can indirectly denote an object whose reference value it holds. In Java, an object can only be manipulated via its reference value, or equivalently by a reference that holds its reference value.