OOP: Class (Definitions)

"In object-oriented software design, a blueprint or set of specifications that defines the characteristics of an object and describes how the object should behave. In Object Role Modeling, an object role model can be used as the basis for an entity-relationship-attribute logical data model. The data can then be easily shared with other applications in the enterprise to form an enterprise logical model. In Microsoft Repository, an information model includes classes, relationships, and properties. This information model can be shared across the enterprise." (Microsoft Corporation, "Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Data Warehouse Training Kit", 2000)

"A description of an object and its properties." (Greg Perry, "Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours" 2nd Ed., 2001)

"The definition of a new type. A class is implemented as data and related functions." (Jesse Liberty, "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"The specification of an object type in object-oriented programming (OOP), although not all OOP languages use this term." (Bill Pribyl & Steven Feuerstein, "Learning Oracle PL/SQL", 2001)

"An extendable reference type that combines data and functionality into one unit." (Jesse Liberty, "Programming C# "2nd Ed., 2002)

"A set of instance variables and methods that have access to those variables. After a class is defined, instances of the class (that is, objects) can be created." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C", 2003)

"In the UML, “The descriptor of a set of objects that share the same attributes, operations, methods, relationships, and behavior” [RJB99]. May be used to represent software or conceptual elements." (Craig Larman, "Applying UML and Patterns", 2004)

"A collection of code, including methods and variables called members. The code in a class sets the rules for objects of the given class. See instance, module, object." (Michael Fitzgerald, "Learning Ruby", 2007)

"A template for instances that will have the same fields, representing state values, and the same methods. Scala classes support single inheritance and zero or more mixin traits. Contrast with type." (Dean Wampler & Alex Payne, "Programming Scala", 2009)

"The specification of an object instance; an encapsulation boundary including data (attributes) and behavior (operations that manipulate that data)." (Bruce P Douglass, "Real-Time Agility: The Harmony/ESW Method for Real-Time and Embedded Systems Development", 2009)

"A declaration of data and methods that describe a single entity and that will be used as a template to create objects." (Jan L Harrington, "SQL Clearly Explained" 3rd Ed., 2010)

"A set of instance variables and methods that have access to those variables. After a class is defined, instances of the class (that is, objects) can be created." (Stephen G Kochan, "Programming in Objective-C" 4th Ed., 2011)

"A template for creating instances. A class defines implementation of methods and fields. A class defines type." (Dean Wampler, "Functional Programming for Java Developers", 2011)

"Defines a data type with properties, methods, events, and other code encapsulated in a package. After you define a class, you can make as many instances of that class as you like. Very similar to a structure except classes are reference types, whereas structures are value types." (Rod Stephens, "Stephens' Visual Basic Programming 24-Hour Trainer", 2011)

"A construct that works as the blueprint for objects." (Mark C Lewis, "Introduction to the Art of Programming Using Scala", 2012)

"A user-defined type, implemented in Perl via a package that provides (either directly or by inheritance) methods (that is, subroutines) to handle instances of the class (its objects). See also inheritance." (Jon Orwant et al, "Programming Perl" 4th Ed., 2012)

"The encapsulation of a set of functions and data that model a real-world object. Creating a class is like creating a blueprint for a bunch of objects of a given type." (Matt Telles, "Beginning Programming", 2014)

"In object-oriented programming, a construct that defines a type (or class) of items. For example, if you define a Customer class, you can then create many Customer objects representing different real-world customers." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"In C++, a user-defined data type. A class data type can contain both data representations (data members) and functions (member functions). A description of a set of objects that share the same attributes, operations, methods, relationships, and semantics. A class can use a set of interfaces to specify collections of operations that it provides to its environment." (Sybase, "Open Server Server-Library/C Reference Manual", 2019)

"Abstract entity that represents a kind of things in the world and may serve as semantic type of other entities." (Panos Alexopoulos, "Semantic Modeling for Data", 2020)

"The fundamental unit that defines an object in most object-oriented programming languages. A class is an encapsulated collection of variables and methods that may have privileged access to one another. Usually a class can be instantiated to produce an object that’s an instance of the class, with its own unique set of data." (Daniel Leuck et al, "Learning Java, 5th Ed.", 2020)