Chapter 9

Subprograms

ISBN 0-321-49362-1
Chapter 9 Topics
• Introduction
• Fundamentals of Subprograms
• Design Issues for Subprograms
• Local Referencing Environments
• Parameter-Passing Methods
• Parameters That Are Subprograms
• Calling Subprograms Indirectly
• Design Issues for Functions
• Overloaded Subprograms
• Generic Subprograms
• User-Defined Overloaded Operators
• Closures
• Coroutines

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Introduction

• Two fundamental abstraction facilities

– Process abstraction
• Emphasized from early days
• Discussed in this chapter
– Data abstraction
• Emphasized in the1980s
• Discussed at length in Chapter 11

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Fundamentals of Subprograms

• 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

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Basic Definitions
• A subprogram definition describes the interface to and the
actions of the subprogram abstraction
– In Python, function definitions are executable; in all other languages,
they are non-executable
– In Ruby, function definitions can appear either in or outside of class
definitions. If outside, they are methods of Object . They can be called
without an object, like a function
– In Lua, all functions are anonymous
• 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

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Basic Definitions (continued)

• 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

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Basic Definitions

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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
– Advantage: Parameters can appear in any order, thereby
avoiding parameter correspondence errors
– Disadvantage: User must know the formal parameter’s
names

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Actual/Formal Parameter
Correspondence

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Formal Parameter Default Values

• In certain languages (e.g., C++, Python, Ruby, PHP), formal

parameters can have default values (if no actual parameter is
passed)

– In C++, default parameters must appear last because parameters

are positionally associated (no keyword parameters)

• Variable numbers of parameters

– C# methods can accept a variable number of parameters
as long as they are of the same type—the corresponding
formal parameter is an array preceded by params

– In Ruby, the actual parameters are sent as elements of a

hash literal and the corresponding formal parameter is
preceded by an asterisk.

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Variable Numbers of Parameters
(continued)
– In Python, the actual parameters are a list of values and
the corresponding formal parameters is a name with an
asterisk

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Variable Numbers of Parameters

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 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 modeled on mathematical
functions

• They are expected to produce no side effects

• In practice, program functions have side effects

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Design Issues for Subprograms
• Are local variables static or dynamic?
• Can subprogram definitions appear in other subprogram
definitions?
• What parameter passing methods are provided?
• Are parameter types checked?
• If subprograms can be passed as parameters and subprograms can
be nested, what is the referencing environment of a passed
subprogram?
• Are functional side effects allowed?
• What types of values can be returned from functions?
• How many values can be returned from functions?
• Can subprograms be overloaded?
• Can subprogram be generic?
• If the language allows nested subprograms, are closures supported?

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 Local Referencing Environments
• Local variables can be stack-dynamic
- 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
– Advantages and disadvantages are the opposite of those
for stack-dynamic local variables

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Local Referencing Environments

1-16
Local Referencing Environments: Examples

• In most contemporary languages, locals are

stack dynamic

• In C-based languages, locals are by default

stack dynamic, but can be declared static

• The methods of C++, Java, Python, and C#

only have stack dynamic locals

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Semantic Models of Parameter Passing

Formal parameters categorized in the

following modes

• In mode - Receive data from corresponding real parameter

• Out mode - Transmit data to the corresponding real
parameter
• Inout mode - They can do both

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Models of Parameter Passing

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Models of Parameter Passing - Example

Consider a subprogram taking two arrays of int

values as parameters—list1 and list2.

The subprogram must add list1 to list2 and

return the result as a revised version of list2.

list 1 - in mode
list 2 - inout mode
intermediate list for addition - out mode

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Conceptual Models of Transfer

• Physically move a value

• Move an access path to a value

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 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)
– Disadvantages (if by physical move): additional storage is
required (stored twice) and the actual move can be costly
(for large parameters)
– Disadvantages (if by access path method): must
write-protect in the called subprogram and accesses cost
more (indirect addressing)

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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, by physical move
– Require extra storage location and copy
operation
• Potential problems:
– sub(p1, p1);whichever formal parameter is copied
back will represent the current value of p1
– sub(list[sub], sub); Compute address of list[sub] at
the beginning of the subprogram or end?
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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

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Pass-by-Reference (Inout Mode)

• Pass an access path

• Also called pass-by-sharing
• Advantage: Passing process is efficient (no
copying and no duplicated storage)
• Disadvantages
– Slower accesses (compared to pass-by-value) to
formal parameters
– Potentials for unwanted side effects (collisions)
– Unwanted aliases (access broadened)
fun(total, total); fun(list[i], list[j]; fun(list[i], i);

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Pass-by-Reference (continued)

- Another issue:

Can the passed reference be changed in the

called subprogram?

- In C, it is possible

- But in some other languages, such as Pascal

and C++, formal parameters that are
addresses are implicitly dereferenced, which
prevents such changes

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 Pass-by-Name (Inout Mode)

• 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
• Implementation requires that the
referencing environment of the caller is
passed with the parameter, so the actual
parameter address can be calculated

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Implementing Parameter-Passing Methods

• In most languages 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

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 Implementing Parameter-Passing Methods

Function header: void sub(int a, int b, int c, int d)

Function call in main: sub(w, x, y, z)
(pass w by value, x by result, y by value-result, z by reference)
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Parameter Passing Methods of Major
Languages
• C
– Pass-by-value
– Pass-by-reference is achieved by using pointers as parameters

• C++
– Pass-by-value
– A special pointer type called reference type for pass-by-reference

• Java
– All non-object parameters are passed are passed by value
So, no method can change any of these parameters
non-object parameters are basically primitive types - int, double,
char, boolean, etc.
– Object parameters are passed by reference

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Parameter Passing Methods of Major
Languages (continued)
• Fortran 95+
- Parameters can be declared to be in, out, or inout mode
• 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#, except that either the actual or the
formal parameter can specify ref
• Swift: default passing method is by value, but
pass-by-reference can be specified by preceding the formal
with inout
• Perl: all actual parameters are implicitly placed in a
predefined array named @_
• Python and Ruby use pass-by-assignment (all data values
are objects); the actual is assigned to the formal
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Parameter Passing Methods of Major
Languages (continued)

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Parameter Passing Methods of Major
Languages (continued)

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Parameter Passing Methods of Major
Languages (continued)

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Type Checking Parameters

• Considered very important for reliability

• FORTRAN 77 and original C: none
• Pascal and Java: 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
• In Python and Ruby, variables do not have types
(objects do), so parameter type checking is not
possible

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 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

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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

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters:
C and C++

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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

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters:
Java and C#

Java example with inherited array constant “length”:

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters:
Java and C#
Java allows ragged array:

1-41
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

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Parameters that are Subprogram
Names
• It is sometimes convenient to pass
subprogram names as parameters
• Issues:
1. Are parameter types checked?
2. What is the correct referencing environment for
a subprogram that was sent as a parameter?

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Parameters that are Subprogram
Names: Referencing Environment
• Shallow binding: The environment of the
call statement that enacts the passed
subprogram
- Most natural for dynamic-scoped
languages
• Deep binding: The environment of the
definition of the passed subprogram
- Most natural for static-scoped languages
• Ad hoc binding: The environment of the call
statement that passed the subprogram

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Parameters that are Subprogram
Names: Example

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Calling Subprograms Indirectly

• Usually when there are several possible

subprograms to be called and the correct
one on a particular run of the program is
not know until execution (e.g., event
handling and GUIs)
• In C and C++, such calls are made through
function pointers

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Calling Subprograms Indirectly (continued)

• In C#, method pointers are implemented as

objects called delegates
– A delegate declaration:
public delegate int Change(int x);
- This delegate type, named Change, can be
instantiated with any method that takes an int
parameter and returns an int value
A method: static int fun1(int x) { … }
Instantiate: Change chgfun1 = new Change(fun1);
Can be called with: chgfun1(12);
- A delegate can store more than one address,
which is called a multicast delegate
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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
– Java and C# methods can return any type (but because
methods are not types, they cannot be returned)
– Python and Ruby treat methods as first-class objects, so
they can be returned, as well as any other class

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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

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Generic Subprograms

• A generic or polymorphic subprogram takes

parameters of different types on different
activations
• Overloaded subprograms provide ad hoc
polymorphism
• Subtype polymorphism means that a variable of
type T can access any object of type T or any type
derived from T (OOP languages)
• 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
- A cheap compile-time substitute for dynamic
binding

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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• C++
– Versions of a generic subprogram are created
implicitly when the subprogram is named in a
call or when its address is taken with the &
operator
– Generic subprograms are preceded by a template
clause that lists the generic variables, which can
be type names or class names

template <class Type>

Type max(Type first, Type second) {
return first > second ? first : second;
}

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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• Java 5.0
- Differences between generics in Java 5.0 and
those of C++:
1. Generic parameters in Java 5.0 must be classes
2. Java 5.0 generic methods are instantiated just
once as truly generic methods
3. Restrictions can be specified on the range of
classes that can be passed to the generic method
as generic parameters
4. Wildcard types of generic parameters

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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• Java 5.0 (continued)

public static <T> T doIt(T[] list) { … }
- The parameter is an array of generic elements
(T is the name of the type)
- A call:
doIt<String>(myList);
Generic parameters can have bounds:
public static <T extends Comparable> T
doIt(T[] list) { … }
The generic type must be of a class that
implements the Comparable interface

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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• Java 5.0 (continued)

– Wildcard types
Collection<?> is a wildcard type for collection
classes
void printCollection(Collection<?> c) {
for (Object e: c) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}
- Works for any collection class

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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• C# 2005
- Supports generic methods that are similar to
those of Java 5.0
- One difference: actual type parameters in a call
can be omitted if the compiler can infer the
unspecified type
– Another – C# 2005 does not support wildcards

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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• F#
– Infers a generic type if it cannot determine the
type of a parameter or the return type of a
function – automatic generalization
– Such types are denoted with an apostrophe and
a single letter, e.g., ′a
– Functions can be defined to have generic
parameters
let printPair (x: ′a) (y: ′a) =
printfn ″%A %A″ x y
- %A is a format code for any type
- These parameters are not type constrained
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Generic Subprograms (continued)

• F# (continued)
– If the parameters of a function are used with
arithmetic operators, they are type constrained,
even if the parameters are specified to be
generic
– Because of type inferencing and the lack of type
coercions, F# generic functions are far less
useful than those of C++, Java 5.0+, and C#
2005+

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User-Defined Overloaded Operators

• Operators can be overloaded in Ada, C++,

Python, and Ruby
• A Python example
def __add__ (self, second) :
return Complex(self.real + second.real,
self.imag + second.imag)
Use: To compute x + y, x.__add__(y)

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Closures
• A closure is a subprogram and the
referencing environment where it was
defined
– The referencing environment is needed if the subprogram
can be called from any arbitrary place in the program
– A static-scoped language that does not permit nested
subprograms doesn’t need closures
– Closures are only needed if a subprogram can access
variables in nesting scopes and it can be called from
anywhere
– To support closures, an implementation may need to
provide unlimited extent to some variables (because a
subprogram may access a nonlocal variable that is
normally no longer alive)

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Closures (continued)

• A JavaScript closure:
function makeAdder(x) {
return function(y) {return x + y;}
}
...
var add10 = makeAdder(10);
var add5 = makeAdder(5);
document.write(″add 10 to 20: ″ + add10(20) +
″<br />″);
document.write(″add 5 to 20: ″ + add5(20) +
″<br />″);
- The closure is the anonymous function returned
by makeAdder
- The lifetime of y is the whole program run time. 1-60
Closures (continued)
• C#
- We can write the same closure in C# using a nested
anonymous delegate
- Func<int, int> (the return type) specifies a delegate
that takes an int as a parameter and returns and int
static Func<int, int> makeAdder(int x) {
return delegate(int y) {return x + y;};
}
...
Func<int, int> Add10 = makeAdder(10);
Func<int, int> Add5 = makeAdder(5);
Console.WriteLine(″Add 10 to 20: {0}″, Add10(20));
Console.WriteLine(″Add 5 to 20: {0}″, Add5(20));

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Closures (continued)

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Coroutines
• A coroutine is a subprogram that has multiple
entries and controls them itself – supported
directly in Lua
• 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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Coroutine (continue)
• Coroutine example - card game simulation

a. Each player is one coroutine

b. 4 coroutines take turns to run
c. Each coroutine needs to have local variables to
keep the status before and after other
coroutine resume.

C++ 20 and python support coroutine.

Other languages can implement the coroutine by
simulating the logic.

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Coroutine (continue)

1-65
Coroutines Illustrated: Possible
Execution Controls

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Coroutines Illustrated: Possible
Execution Controls

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Coroutines Illustrated: Possible
Execution Controls with Loops

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Summary
• A subprogram definition describes the actions
represented by the subprogram
• Subprograms can be either functions or procedures
• Local variables in subprograms can be
stack-dynamic or static
• Three models of parameter passing: in mode, out
mode, and inout mode
• Some languages allow operator overloading
• Subprograms can be generic
• A closure is a subprogram and its ref. environment
• A coroutine is a special subprogram with multiple
entries

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