Please correct me if I'm wrong. The instance if a class is a copy of the class?

Thanks

Not really. Let's use a bus as an example.

The "bus" class contains all the information you need to build a bus.
The "number 47" instance of "bus" is one particular bus.

a class is something like a blueprint of what properties an object has and what it can do. but it's only a blueprint. doesn't really exist.

instantiating a class = creating an object.
creating an object according to a class implies that this object exists in "reality" now.

taking the example of doward:
a simplistic blueprint/class of a bus
Properties: 4 wheels, a body and a wheel.
Functions: move forwards, move backwards
our company has created our 47th bus of the day. ie., in object oriented terminology, we have made our 47th instance of the class "bus" today.

An instance of a class is just that, an instance of that class that resides in memory. You can have multiple instances in memory, each having different values for it?s class fields. For example people often refer to an object (or class) that has been instantiated (or literally created in memory) as a class instance.

Hope this helps,
cludwin