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A built-in function, or builtin function, or intrinsic function, is a function for which the compiler generates code at compile time or provides in a way other than for other functions. [23] A built-in function does not need to be defined like other functions since it is built in to the programming language. [24]
In computer programming, a nested function (or nested procedure or subroutine) is a named function that is defined within another, enclosing, block and is lexically scoped within the enclosing block – meaning it is only callable by name within the body of the enclosing block and can use identifiers declared in outer blocks, including outer ...
In computer programming, a parameter or a formal argument is a special kind of variable used in a subroutine to refer to one of the pieces of data provided as input to the subroutine. [ a ] [ 1 ] These pieces of data are the values [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] of the arguments (often called actual arguments or actual parameters ) with which the subroutine ...
Today, subroutines are more often used to help make a program more structured, e.g., by isolating some algorithm or hiding some data access method. If many programmers are working on one program, subroutines are one kind of modularity that can help divide the work.
This means that a program consisting of many function calls may have considerable amounts of repeated code as well. To address this, threaded code systems used pseudo-code to represent function calls in a single operator. At run time, a tiny "interpreter" would scan over the top-level code, extract the subroutine's address in memory, and call it.
In computer programming, a return statement causes execution to leave the current subroutine and resume at the point in the code immediately after the instruction which called the subroutine, known as its return address. The return address is saved by the calling routine, today usually on the process's call stack or in a register.
For example, if a subroutine named DrawLine is currently running, having been called by a subroutine DrawSquare, the top part of the call stack might be laid out like in the adjacent picture. A diagram like this can be drawn in either direction as long as the placement of the top, and so direction of stack growth, is understood.
In computer science, a tail call is a subroutine call performed as the final action of a procedure. [1] If the target of a tail is the same subroutine, the subroutine is said to be tail recursive, which is a special case of direct recursion. Tail recursion (or tail-end recursion) is particularly useful, and is often easy to optimize in ...