< 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 variable s 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)