What is the difference between a class and an object?

A class is a blueprint or template that defines properties (attributes) and behaviors (methods) that objects of that type will have. An object is an instance of a class - a concrete entity created from the class blueprint with actual values. For example, 'Car' is a class defining attributes like color and speed, while 'myCar' is an object with color='red' and speed=100. Classes define the structure; objects are the actual entities in memory.