UMBC CS 201, Fall 06

Procedures in C

We sometimes use the term procedure to refer to a function that does not return a value.

This is probably more for historic reasons, since some languages like Pascal and FORTRAN, make this distinction to be an important one.

Why bother to call a function if it isn't going to return a value? For its side effects, of course.

Here's a good example

void GiveInstructions(void) { printf(....); printf(...); printf(...); return; }

... rather than just include the printf's directly in the calling function?

You may want to call it from several places within your program.
It will make the calling programs more readable to do so. (And hence easier to understand, thus easier to maintain.)

Last Modified - Tuesday, 22-Aug-2006 07:13:54 EDT