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Instance vs Environment - What's the difference?

instance | environment |

In computing terms the difference between instance and environment

is that instance is in object-oriented programming: a created object, one that has had memory allocated for local data storage; an instantiation of a class while environment is the set of variables and their values in a namespace that an operating system associates with a process.

As nouns the difference between instance and environment

is that instance is urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence while environment is the surroundings of, and influences on, a particular item of interest.

As a verb instance

is to mention as a case or example; to refer to; to cite; as, to instance a fact.

instance

English

Alternative forms

* enstance, enstaunce, instaunce (all obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.
  • *, II.8:
  • I know one very well alied, to whom, at the instance of a brother of his.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • undertook at her instance to restore them.
  • (obsolete) A token; a sign; a symptom or indication.
  • It sends some precious instance of itself/ After the thing it loves. Hamlet IV. v. ca. 1602
  • (obsolete) That which is urgent; motive.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The instances that second marriage move / Are base respects of thrift, but none of love.
  • Occasion; order of occurrence.
  • * Sir M. Hale
  • These seem as if, in the time of Edward I., they were drawn up into the form of a law, in the first instance .
  • A case offered as an exemplification or a precedent; an illustrative example.
  • * Atterbury
  • most remarkable instances of suffering
  • *:
  • sometimes we love those that are absent, saith Philostratus, and gives instance in his friend Athenodorus, that loved a maid at Corinth whom he never saw
  • One of a series of recurring occasions, cases, essentially the same.
  • *
  • *
  • * 2010 , The Guardian , 11 Oct 2010:
  • The organisations claim fraudsters are targeting properties belonging to both individuals and companies, in some instances using forged documents.
  • (obsolete) A piece of evidence; a proof or sign (of something).
  • * c. 1594 , William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors :
  • The reason that I gather he is mad, Besides this present instance of his rage, Is a mad tale he told to day at dinner [...].
  • (computing) In object-oriented programming: a created object, one that has had memory allocated for local data storage; an instantiation of a class.
  • (massively multiplayer online games) A dungeon or other area that is duplicated for each player, or each party of players, that enters it, so that each player or party has a private copy of the area, isolated from other players.
  • * 2006 September 1, "Dan" (username), " Re: DPS Classes: Why should I heal you?", in alt.games.warcraft, Usenet:
  • As long as the most difficult instance you've tried is Gnomeregan, you're never going to be credible talking about 'difficult encounters'.
  • * 2010 , , Online Multiplayer Games , Morgan & Claypool, ISBN 9781608451425, page 26:
  • For example, when a team of five players enters the Sunken Temple instance in World of Warcraft , they will battle many monsters, but they will not encounter other players even though several teams of players may be experiencing the Sunken Temple at the same time.
  • * 2012 , anonymous gamer quoted in Andrew Ee & Hichang Cho, " What Makes an MMORPG Leader? A Social Cognitive Theory-Based Approach to Understanding the Formation of Leadership Capabilities in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games", Eludamos , volume 6, page 31:
  • Beating a difficult instance becomes second nature after running through it…a few times, with good leaders knowing exactly what to do and how to co-ordinate member actions.
  • (massively multiplayer online games) An individual copy of such a dungeon or other area.
  • * 2005 January 11, Patrick B., " Re: Instance dungeons", in alt.games.warcraft, Usenet:
  • The instance is created for the group that enters it.
  • * 2005 December 6, "Rene" (username), " Re: Does group leader affect drops?", in alt.games.warcraft, Usenet:
  • As soon as the first player enters (spawns) a new instance , it appears that the loottable is somehow chosen.
  • * 2010 , Anthony Steed & Manuel Fradinho Oliveira, Networked Graphics: Building Networked Games and Virtual Environments , Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-12-374423-4, page 398:
  • A castle on the eastern edge of the island spawns a new instance whenever a party of players enters.

    Derived terms

    * at the instance of * in the first instance * in this instance * for instance

    See also

    * (computing) closure, class, object

    Verb

    (instanc)
  • To mention as a case or example; to refer to; to cite; as, to instance a fact.
  • * 1946 , E. M. Butler, Rainer Maria Rilke , p. 404
  • The poems which I have instanced are concrete and relatively glaring examples of the intangible difference which the change of language made in Rilke's visions .
  • To cite an example as proof; to exemplify.
  • References

    * *

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    environment

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The surroundings of, and influences on, a particular item of interest.
  • The natural world or ecosystem.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […];  […]; or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment .}}
  • All the elements over which a designer has no control and that affect a system or its inputs and outputs.
  • A particular political or social setting, arena or condition.
  • (computing) The software and/or hardware existing on any particular computer system.
  • (programming) The environment of a function at a point during the execution of a program is the set of identifiers in the function's scope and their bindings at that point.
  • (computing) The set of variables and their values in a namespace that an operating system associates with a process.
  • Synonyms

    * (l)