What's the difference between a function and a sub?

[cashdeskmac]

I am a newbie to C# and have come across some VB .NET code in my studies. I
notice that VB uses functions and subs, and was wondering what the difference
was. Is it that one has a return value and the other doesn't?

[Armin Zingler]

"cashdeskmac" <ca*********@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb

I am a newbie to C# and have come across some VB .NET code in my
studies. I
notice that VB uses functions and subs, and was wondering what the
difference was. Is it that one has a return value and the other
doesn't?

Yes, it is.

Armin

[m.posseth]

well with byref parameters a sub can also return values ,,,,

maybe a better explanation if you can follow me , is that a sub is a
method that doesn`t return values by its method name , and a function is a
method that can return values by it`s method name
"Armin Zingler" <az*******@freenet.de> wrote in message
news:uq**************@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

"cashdeskmac" <ca*********@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb

I am a newbie to C# and have come across some VB .NET code in my
studies. I notice that VB uses functions and subs, and was wondering
what the
difference was. Is it that one has a return value and the other
doesn't?

Yes, it is.

Armin

[Armin Zingler]

"m.posseth" <mi*****@nohausystems.nl> schrieb

well with byref parameters a sub can also return values ,,,,
Yes, but not as the function value. That's what he meant (probably).
maybe a better explanation if you can follow me , is that a sub is
a method that doesn`t return values by its method name , and a
function is a method that can return values by it`s method name
"Armin Zingler" <az*******@freenet.de> wrote in message
news:uq**************@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

"cashdeskmac" <ca*********@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb

I am a newbie to C# and have come across some VB .NET code in my
studies. I notice that VB uses functions and subs, and was
wondering what the
difference was. Is it that one has a return value and the
other doesn't?

Yes, it is.

Armin

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

"m.posseth" <mi*****@nohausystems.nl> schrieb:

well with byref parameters a sub can also return values ,,,,

Even a 'ByVal' parameter of a reference type can do that ;-).

--
M S Herfried K. Wagner
M V P <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
V B <URL:http://classicvb.org/petition/>

[Cor Ligthert]

Herfried,

Even a 'ByVal' parameter of a reference type can do that ;-).

No it does not "return" a value, those can be set.

A sub is just a void function.

Cor

[Cor Ligthert]

Michel.

I don't agree with you, a void function (in VBNet a Sub) does not "return" a
value. You can set values, however those are not returned.

You can use them afterwards, however that I see as a complete different
approach, as there are than more possibilities. (By instance set values in
modules or whatever)

Just my thought,

Cor

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

"Cor Ligthert" <no************@planet.nl> schrieb:

Even a 'ByVal' parameter of a reference type can do that ;-).

No it does not "return" a value, those can be set.

It depends on how you define "returing a value".

--
M S Herfried K. Wagner
M V P <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
V B <URL:http://classicvb.org/petition/>

[Cor Ligthert]

>

It depends on how you define "returing a value".

Maybe in Thuringen however for the rest of the world it is well knowed.

A = B where B returns a value to A.

Cor

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

Cor,

"Cor Ligthert" <no************@planet.nl> schrieb:

It depends on how you define "returing a value".

Maybe in Thuringen however for the rest of the world it is well knowed.

A = B where B returns a value to A.

I still believe that using output parameters is one technique to "return"
values.

--
M S Herfried K. Wagner
M V P <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
V B <URL:http://classicvb.org/petition/>

[Armin Zingler]

"Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]" <hi***************@gmx.at> schrieb

Cor,

"Cor Ligthert" <no************@planet.nl> schrieb:

It depends on how you define "returing a value".

Maybe in Thuringen however for the rest of the world it is well
knowed.
A = B where B returns a value to A.

I still believe that using output parameters is one technique to
"return" values.

Yes, but talking about the difference between subs and functions, the
statement "Is it that one has a return value and the other doesn't?" it's
for sure related to the function return value. I think you know this. :-)

Armin

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

"Armin Zingler" <az*******@freenet.de> schrieb:

It depends on how you define "returing a value".

Maybe in Thuringen however for the rest of the world it is well
knowed.
A = B where B returns a value to A.

I still believe that using output parameters is one technique to
"return" values.

Yes, but talking about the difference between subs and functions, the
statement "Is it that one has a return value and the other doesn't?" it's
for sure related to the function return value. I think you know this. :-)

Yeah, I know this :-).

--
M S Herfried K. Wagner
M V P <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
V B <URL:http://classicvb.org/petition/>

[Michael D. Ober]

"Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]" <hi***************@gmx.at> wrote in message
news:eO**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

"Armin Zingler" <az*******@freenet.de> schrieb:

I still believe that using output parameters is one technique to
"return" values.

This is also referred to as "side-effect" programming. There are times when
it's necessary, but as a general rule, it is harder to maintain code that
returns values in parameters. The most common usage for this is in a
function that returns a status code and puts a value (usually a string or
byte array) in a passed parameter. The windows API is full of these.

Mike Ober.

[Carlos J. Quintero [.NET MVP]]

"Michael D. Ober" <mdo.@.wakeassoc..com> escribió en el mensaje
news:ei****************@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

This is also referred to as "side-effect" programming. There are times
when
it's necessary, but as a general rule, it is harder to maintain code that
returns values in parameters.

Java? ;-)

--

Best regards,

Carlos J. Quintero

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