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explain the difference between a class and an object in object-oriented programming (oop).
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in object-oriented programming (oop), a class is a template for creating objects which determine the structure and behavior in a program. a class defines the data and the sequence of operations that are allowed on the data. an object is an instance of a class, which allows the class to have multiple instances that have the same characteristics, but the data may be different. an object can be thought of as a specific example of a class, which can include unique data and methods.
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