The term transition refers to the property of objects in object-oriented programming. Specifically, transition refers to the change in an object's state (the way an object is, as determined by the properties of the object) due to the action of other objects on it. This can also be referred to as state transition.

An example of transition from the real world concerns the filling of a glass. Initially the state of the glass is empty. A jug of water is used to pour water into the glass. This action of the jug changes the state of the glass from empty to full. If someone pours the water out of the glass, then the state of the glass has been changed yet again, this time back to the original state. Thus, the state of an object (the glass) is affected by the performance of actions associated with other objects.

In object-oriented programming, defining all the possible states of a system can be exceedingly complex, because of the myriad of object interactions that might occur. Defining the possible interactions within object classes is commonly done using state transition diagrams.

Programming transition is described as a "goto" function. This can be accomplished using the following operation: proceed state. The "state" attribute contains the specified value. This argument defines the new state and so invokes a transition.

In the Java programming language, a method called transition specifies a transition from one generation to the next. Functions involved in this type of transition include loops, "if" statements, or the construction of arrays for storing tables.