A while ago I heard a word that means something representing something abstract, but not actually being that thing. It was in the context of Java's Class objects - that classes in Java are loaded into the JVM in a special way, but that Class objects exist to represent those; they're _____. I feel like it started with an R? Thanks!
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This may be better suited to a site dealing with computer terms. (It may not.)– Edwin AshworthCommented Oct 13, 2016 at 0:41
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representative?– MazuraCommented Oct 13, 2016 at 0:42
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It was less common than that– PhoenixCommented Oct 13, 2016 at 0:42
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I don't think so– PhoenixCommented Oct 13, 2016 at 0:44
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Do you mean 'Instances' of that particular class?– anotherDevCommented Oct 13, 2016 at 0:45
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1 Answer
It sounds like you're thinking of reification. From Cambridge Dictionary:
reification
noun [ U ] /ˌriː.ɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ /ˌriː.ɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ formal the act of changing something abstract (= existing as a thought or idea) into something real:
the reification of fantasies
This standard definition is very slightly different from an existing object that stands in for something that remains abstract (that sounds a bit more like a symbol), but I can see it being used that way in a specialized context. I've mostly heard it used in the social sciences, but Wikipedia says that in computer science
Reification is the process by which an abstract idea about a computer program is turned into an explicit data model or other object created in a programming language. A computable/addressable object — a resource — is created in a system as a proxy for a non computable/addressable object.
That second sentence, especially, sounds like what you've described.
