To resolve the interpretation of some name used in a program for the remaining lifetime of that instance of the program. For example, upon invocation of a procedure the formal parameters are bound to the actual parameters that are supplied for that invocation, and this binding remains in force throughout the lifetime of that invocation. Similarly, at some time the variables in a program must be bound to particular storage addresses in the computer, and this binding typically remains in force for as long as the variable continues to exist. In a virtual memory system, there is further binding between the virtual addresses used in the program and the physical addresses of the hardware.

For an abstract specification, the implementation will involve binding to a language. For example, the PCTE specification is available in C and Ada language bindings, each having a binding to UNIX.