The difference between Classes, Objects, and Instances

Java (and any other programming language) is modeled in terms of types and values. At the theoretical level, a value is a representation for some quantum of information, and a type is a set of values. When we say value X is an instance of type Y, we are simply saying that X is a member of the set of values that is the type Y.

So that's what the term "instance" really means: it describes a relationship not a thing.

The type system of the Java programming language supports two kinds of types, primitive types and reference types. The reference types are further divided into the classes and array types. A Java object is an instance of a reference type.

An object is a class instance or an array. (JLS 4.3.1)

That's the type theoretic view.

In practice, most Java developers treat the words "instance" and "object" as synonyms. (And that includes me then I'm trying to explain something quickly.) And most developers use the word "value" rather than "instance" to refer to an instance of a primitive type.

A class is basically a definition, and contains the object's code. An object is an instance of a class

for example if you say

String word = new String();

the class is the String class, which describes the object (instance) word.

When a class is declared, no memory is allocated so class is just a template.

When the object of the class is declared, memory is allocated.

Class : Structure

Object : Physical Manifestation

Instance : each object created from class

Reference : Address of Object

Honestly, I feel more comfortable with Alfred blog definitions:

Object: real world objects shares 2 main characteristics, state and behavior. Human have state (name, age) and behavior (running, sleeping). Car have state (current speed, current gear) and behavior (applying brake, changing gear). Software objects are conceptually similar to real-world objects: they too consist of state and related behavior. An object stores its state in fields and exposes its behavior through methods.

Class: is a “template” / “blueprint” that is used to create objects. Basically, a class will consists of field, static field, method, static method and constructor. Field is used to hold the state of the class (eg: name of Student object). Method is used to represent the behavior of the class (eg: how a Student object going to stand-up). Constructor is used to create a new Instance of the Class.

Instance: An instance is a unique copy of a Class that representing an Object. When a new instance of a class is created, the JVM will allocate a room of memory for that class instance.

Given the next example:

public class Person {
    private int id;
    private String name;
    private int age;

    public Person (int id, String name, int age) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
        this.age = age;
    }

    public int hashCode() {
        final int prime = 31;
        int result = 1;
        result = prime * result + id;
        return result;
    }

    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (this == obj)
            return true;
        if (obj == null)
            return false;
        if (getClass() != obj.getClass())
            return false;
        Person other = (Person) obj;
        if (id != other.id)
            return false;
        return true;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //case 1
        Person p1 = new Person(1, "Carlos", 20);
        Person p2 = new Person(1, "Carlos", 20);

        //case 2
        Person p3 = new Person(2, "John", 15);
        Person p4 = new Person(3, "Mary", 17);
    }
}

For case 1, there are two instances of the class Person, but both instances represent the same object.

For case 2, there are two instances of the class Person, but each instance represent a different object.

So class, object and instance are different things. Object and instance are not synonyms as is suggested in the answer selected as right answer.

If you have a program that models cars you have a class to represent cars, so in Code you could say:

Car someCar = new Car();

someCar is now an instance of the class Car. If the program is used at a repairshop and the someCar represents your car in their system, then your car is the object.

So Car is a class that can represent any real world car someCar is an instance of the Car class and someCare represents one real life object (your car)

however instance and object is very often used interchangably when it comes to discussing coding

A class is a blueprint that is needed to make an object(= instance).

The difference between an object and an instance is, an object is a thing and an instance is a relation.

In other words, instance describes the relation of an object to the class that the object was made from.