TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
"Instantiate" is used extensively in books, magazine articles, and programming
manuals to refer to the action an OO programming system uses to create an
instance (single, real item) of an abstract object defined by the OO language.
I think it arose when someone combined "instance" with "substantiate". Many OO
languages use clauses called "assertions" to define the properties or behavior
of an object, so maybe they borrowed substantiate from the lawyers/insurance
companies ("We could not substantiate your claim that you ever owned a Ferrari
, so we are turning down your claim that it was stolen.") Combining the two,
you substantiate an instance of an object, and true to the weird way some
programmers handle language, it got turned into "instantiate".
"Uniquify" sounds like one of those silly words I make up when I've been up too
long. <G>
David Jones, Technical Writer
David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- Datahub -dot- com
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate
DISCLAIMER:
"I do not speak for my employer, my computer, or any other living thing."
TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send administrative commands
ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-
