reference class
What It Means
A reference class is a programming structure that acts like a pointer or shortcut to other data objects, rather than containing the actual data itself. When you copy or pass around a reference, you're sharing access to the same underlying information, so changes made through one reference affect all other references to that same data.
Why Chief AI Officers Care
Reference classes are critical for AI system memory management and data consistency - improper use can lead to unexpected data corruption, security vulnerabilities, or system crashes when multiple AI processes modify shared data. They also impact system performance and scalability, as poor reference management can create memory leaks that degrade AI model performance over time.
Real-World Example
In a customer recommendation engine, if product data is stored using reference classes, multiple recommendation algorithms might share references to the same product catalog. When the inventory system updates a product's availability through one reference, all recommendation algorithms immediately see that change without needing separate data updates.
Common Confusion
People often confuse reference classes with value classes, not realizing that copying a reference doesn't create independent copies of data - it creates multiple pathways to the same data, which can lead to unintended side effects when the data is modified.
Industry-Specific Applications
See how this term applies to healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, tech, and insurance.
Healthcare: In healthcare systems, reference classes are commonly used for patient records, medical images, and clinical data object...
Finance: In finance, reference classes are critical for maintaining data integrity across trading systems, risk management platfo...
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Technical Definitions
NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology
"A class which is intended to describe structure and behavior of object identifiers. Its instances, called references, are passed by-value and indirectly represent objects by substituting for some primitive reference."Source: IGI_Global_reference_class
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