Class
1. <programming> The prototype for an
object in an
object-oriented language; analogous to a
derived type in a
procedural language.
A class may also be considered to be a set of objects which share a common structure and behaviour. The structure of a class is determined by the class variables which represent the
state of an object of that class and the behaviour is given by a set of
methods associated with the class.
Classes are related in a
class hierarchy.
One class may be a specialisation (a "
subclass") of another (one of its "superclasses") or it may be composed of other classes or it may use other classes in a
client-server relationship.
A class may be an
abstract class or a
concrete class.
See also
signature.
2. <programming> See
type class.
3. <networking> One of three types of Internet addresses distinguished by their most significant bits.
3. <language> A language developed by the
Andrew Project. It was one of the first attempts to add
object-oriented features to
C.
