Editing Reification (computer science) (section)

{{Short description|Formal methods terminology}}
{{Other uses|Reification (disambiguation)}}

In [[computer science]], '''reification''' is the process by which an abstract idea about a [[computer program|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. By means of reification, something that was previously implicit, unexpressed, and possibly inexpressible is explicitly formulated and made available to conceptual (logical or computational) manipulation. Informally, reification is often referred to as "making something a [[first-class citizen]]" within the scope of a particular system. Some aspect of a system can be reified at ''language design time'', which is related to [[Reflection (computer science)|reflection]] in programming languages. It can be applied as a [[stepwise refinement]] at ''system design time''. Reification is one of the most frequently used techniques of [[conceptual analysis]] and [[knowledge representation]].