UNIT-3 Fundamentals of Subprograms

Subprograms Blocks and Fundamentals of sub-programs: Scope and lifetime of variable, static and
dynamic scope, Design issues of subprograms and operations, local referencing environments, parameter
passing methods, overloaded sub-programs, generic sub-programs, parameters that are subprogram names,
design issues for functions user defined overloaded operators, co routines.
Objective: To introduce formalism for specifying syntax and semantics of programming languages.
Outcome: Gain Knowledge and comparison of the features programming languages
Scope and lifetime of variable, static and dynamic scope:

Design issues of subprograms and operations:

•Each subprogram has a single entry point
•The calling program is suspended during execution of the called subprogram
•Control always returns to the caller when the called subprogram‘s execution terminates
Basic Definitions
•A subprogram definition describes the interface to and the actions of the subprogram
abstraction
•A subprogram call is an explicit request that the subprogram be executed
•A subprogram header is the first part of the definition, including the name, the kind of
subprogram, and the formal parameters
•The parameter profile (aka signature) of a subprogram is the number, order, and types of its
parameters
•The protocol is a subprogram‘s parameter profile and, if it is a function, its return type
•Function declarations in C and C++ are often called prototypes
•A subprogram declaration provides the protocol, but not the body, of the subprogram
•A formal parameter is a dummy variable listed in the subprogram header and used in the
subprogram
•An actual parameter represents a value or address used in the subprogram call statement
Actual/Formal Parameter Correspondence
•Positional
–The binding of actual parameters to formal parameters is by position: the first actual parameter
is bound to the first formal parameter and so forth
–Safe and effective
•Keyword
–The name of the formal parameter to which an actual parameter is to be bound is specified
with the actual parameter
–Parameters can appear in any order
Formal Parameter Default Values
•In certain languages (e.g., C++, Ada), formal parameters can have default values (if not actual
parameter is passed)
–In C++, default parameters must appear last because parameters are positionally associated.
•C# methods can accept a variable number of parameters as long as they are of the same type
Procedures and Functions
•There are two categories of subprograms
–Procedures are collection of statements that define parameterized computations
–Functions structurally resemble procedures but are semantically modelled on mathematical
functions
•They are expected to produce no side effects
•In practice, program functions have side effects
Design Issues for Subprograms
•What parameter passing methods are provided?
•Are parameter types checked?
•Are local variables static or dynamic?

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•Can subprogram definitions appear in other subprogram definitions?
•Can subprograms be overloaded?
•Can subprogram be generic?
Local Referencing Environments
•Local variables can be stack-dynamic (bound to storage)
–Advantages
•Support for recursion
•Storage for locals is shared among some subprograms
–Disadvantages
•Allocation/de-allocation, initialization time
•Indirect addressing
•Subprograms cannot be history sensitive
•Local variables can be static
–More efficient (no indirection)
–No run-time overhead
–Cannot support recursion
Parameter Passing Methods
•Ways in which parameters are transmitted to and/or from called subprograms
–Pass-by-value
–Pass-by-result
–Pass-by-value-result
–Pass-by-reference
–Pass-by-name
Models of Parameter Passing
Pass-by-Value (In Mode) •The value of the actual parameter is used to initialize the
corresponding formal parameter
–Normally implemented by copying
–Can be implemented by transmitting an access path but not recommended (enforcing write
protection is not easy)
–When copies are used, additional storage is required
–Storage and copy operations can be costly
Pass-by-Result (Out Mode)
•When a parameter is passed by result, no value is transmitted to the subprogram; the
corresponding formal parameter acts as a local variable; its value is transmitted to caller‘s actual
parameter when control is returned to the caller
–Require extra storage location and copy operation
•Potential problem: sub(p1, p1); whichever formal parameter is copied back will represent the
current value of p1
Pass-by-Value-Result (inout Mode)
•A combination of pass-by-value and pass-by-result
•Sometimes called pass-by-copy
•Formal parameters have local storage
•Disadvantages:
–Those of pass-by-result
–Those of pass-by-value
Pass-by-Reference (Inout Mode)
•Pass an access path •Also called pass-by-sharing
•Passing process is efficient (no copying and no duplicated storage)
•Disadvantages
–Slower accesses (compared to pass-by-value) to formal parameters
–Potentials for un-wanted side effects
–Un-wanted aliases (access broadened)
Pass-by-Name (Inout Mode)

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•By textual substitution
•Formals are bound to an access method at the time of the call, but actual binding to a value or
address takes place at the time of a reference or assignment
•Allows flexibility in late binding
Implementing Parameter-Passing Methods
•In most language parameter communication takes place thru the run-time stack
•Pass-by-reference are the simplest to implement; only an address is placed in the stack
•A subtle but fatal error can occur with pass-by-reference and pass-by-value-result: a formal
parameter corresponding to a constant can mistakenly be changed
Parameter Passing Methods of Major Languages
•Fortran
–Always used the inout semantics model
–Before Fortran 77: pass-by-reference
–Fortran 77 and later: scalar variables are often passed by value-result
•C
–Pass-by-value
–Pass-by-reference is achieved by using pointers as parameters
•C++
–A special pointer type called reference type for pass-by-reference
•Java
–All parameters are passed are passed by value
–Object parameters are passed by reference
•Ada
–Three semantics modes of parameter transmission: in, out, in out; in is the default mode
–Formal parameters declared out can be assigned but not referenced; those declared in can be
referenced but not assigned; in out parameters can be referenced and assigned
•C#
–Default method: pass-by-value
–Pass-by-reference is specified by preceding both a formal parameter and its actual parameter
with ref
•PHP: very similar to C#
•Perl: all actual parameters are implicitly placed in a predefined array named @_
Type Checking Parameters
•Considered very important for reliability
•FORTRAN 77 and original C: none
•Pascal, FORTRAN 90, Java, and Ada: it is always required
•ANSI C and C++: choice is made by the user
–Prototypes
•Relatively new languages Perl, JavaScript, and PHP do not require type checking
Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters
•If a multidimensional array is passed to a subprogram and the subprogram is separately
compiled, the compiler needs to know the declared size of that array to build the storage
mapping function
Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: C and C++
•Programmer is required to include the declared sizes of all but the first subscript in the actual
parameter
•Disallows writing flexible subprograms
•Solution: pass a pointer to the array and the sizes of the dimensions as other parameters; the
user must include the storage mapping function in terms of the size parameters
Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: Pascal and Ada
•Pascal
–Not a problem; declared size is part of the array‘s type
•Ada

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–Constrained arrays - like Pascal
–Unconstrained arrays - declared size is part of the object declaration
Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: Fortran
•Formal parameter that are arrays have a declaration after the header
–For single-dimension arrays, the subscript is irrelevant
–For multi-dimensional arrays, the subscripts allow the storage-mapping function
Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: Java and C#
•Similar to Ada
•Arrays are objects; they are all single-dimensioned, but the elements can be arrays
•Each array inherits a named constant (length in Java, Length in C#) that is set to the length of
the array when the array object is created
Design Considerations for Parameter Passing
•Two important considerations
–Efficiency
–One-way or two-way data transfer
•But the above considerations are in conflict
–Good programming suggest limited access to variables, which means one-way whenever
possible
–But pass-by-reference is more efficient to pass structures of significant size
Parameters that are Subprogram Names
•It is sometimes convenient to pass subprogram names as parameters
•Issues:
•Are parameter types checked?
•What is the correct referencing environment for a subprogram that was sent as a parameter?
Parameters that are Subprogram Names: Parameter Type Checking
•C and C++: functions cannot be passed as parameters but pointers to functions can be passed;
parameters can be type checked
•FORTRAN 95 type checks
•Later versions of Pascal and
•Ada does not allow subprogram parameters; a similar alternative is provided via Ada‘s generic
facility
Parameters that are Subprogram Names: Referencing Environment
•Shallow binding: The environment of the call statement that enacts the passed subprogram
•Deep binding: The environment of the definition of the passed subprogram
•Ad hoc binding: The environment of the call statement that passed the subprogram
Overloaded Subprograms
•An overloaded subprogram is one that has the same name as another subprogram in the same
referencing environment
–Every version of an overloaded subprogram has a unique protocol
•C++, Java, C#, and Ada include predefined overloaded subprograms
•In Ada, the return type of an overloaded function can be used to disambiguate calls (thus two
overloaded functions can have the same parameters)
•Ada, Java, C++, and C# allow users to write multiple versions of subprograms with the same
name
Generic Subprograms
•A generic or polymorphic subprogram takes parameters of different types on different
activations
•Overloaded subprograms provide ad hoc polymorphism
•A subprogram that takes a generic parameter that is used in a type expression that describes the
type of the parameters of the subprogram provides parametric polymorphism
Examples of parametric polymorphism: C++
template <class Type>
Type max(Type first, Type second) {

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return first > second ? first : second;
}
•The above template can be instantiated for any type for which operator > is defined
int max (int first, int second) {
return first > second? first : second;
}
Design Issues for Functions
•Are side effects allowed?
–Parameters should always be in-mode to reduce side effect (like Ada)
•What types of return values are allowed?
–Most imperative languages restrict the return types
–C allows any type except arrays and functions
–C++ is like C but also allows user-defined types
–Ada allows any type
–Java and C# do not have functions but methods can have any type
User-Defined Overloaded Operators
•Operators can be overloaded in Ada and C++
•An Ada example
Function ―*‖(A,B: in Vec_Type): return Integer is
Sum: Integer := 0;
begin
for Index in A‘range loop
Sum := Sum + A(Index) * B(Index)
end loop
return sum;
end ―*‖;
…
c = a * b; -- a, b, and c are of type Vec_Type
Coroutines
•A coroutine is a subprogram that has multiple entries and controls them itself
•Also called symmetric control: caller and called coroutines are on a more equal basis
•A coroutine call is named a resume
•The first resume of a coroutine is to its beginning, but subsequent calls enter at the point just
after the last executed statement in the coroutine
•Coroutines repeatedly resume each other, possibly forever
•Coroutines provide quasi-concurrent execution of program units (the coroutines); their
execution is interleaved, but not overlapped

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