CCIT 10 2 – COMPUTER P ROGRAMMING 1

Functions
Source: The C++ Workshop, A New, Interactive Approach to Learning C++,
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cplusplus/cpp_functions.htm
https://www.w3schools.com/cpp/cpp_functions.asp

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 What is a Function?

C++ Function
• group of statements that together perform a task. Example: main()

• A function is a block of code which only runs when it is called.

• A function declaration tells the compiler about a function's name, return

type, and parameters.

• A function definition provides the actual body of the function.

• The C++ standard library provides numerous built-in functions that your
program can call. For example, function strcat() to concatenate two strings,
function memcpy() to copy one memory location to another location and
many more functions.

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 Function
Pre-defined Function
• These are Functions which are already defined. Any set of subroutines that
perform standard mathematical functions included in a programming
language; either included in a program at compilation time, or called when
a program is executed is called a function.

• Examples: max(), min(), sqrt(), round(), pow(),sqrt(),gcd(),toupper(),tolower()

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 Function
User-defined Function
• C++ allows the programmer to define their own function.
• A user-defined function groups code to perform a specific task and that
group of code is given a name (identifier).
• When the function is invoked from any part of the program, it all executes
the codes defined in the body of the function.

// function declaration
void greet()
{
cout << "Hello World";
}

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 Function
Defining a Function
• The general form of a C++ function definition is as follows −
return_type function_name( parameter list ) {
body of the function
}

A C++ function definition consists of a function header and a function body. Here
are all the parts of a function −

•Return Type − A function may return a value. The return_type is the data type of the
value the function returns. Some functions perform the desired operations without
returning a value. In this case, the return_type is the keyword void.

•Function Name − This is the actual name of the function. The function name and the
parameter list together constitute the function signature.

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 Function
Defining a Function
• The general form of a C++ function definition is as follows −
return_type function_name( parameter list ) {
body of the function
}

A C++ function definition consists of a function header and a function body. Here
are all the parts of a function −
•Parameters − A parameter is like a placeholder. When a function is invoked, you pass
a value to the parameter. This value is referred to as actual parameter or argument.
The parameter list refers to the type, order, and number of the parameters of a
function. Parameters are optional; that is, a function may contain no parameters.

•Function Body − The function body contains a collection of statements that define
what the function does.

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 Function
Example
Following is the source code for a function called max(). This function takes two
parameters num1 and num2 and return the biggest of both −

// function returning the max between two numbers int

max(int num1, int num2) {
// local variable declaration
int result;
if (num1 > num2)
result = num1;
else
result = num2;
return result;
}

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 Function
Function Declaration
• A function declaration tells the compiler about a function name and how to
call the function. The actual body of the function can be defined separately.

A function declaration has the following parts −

return_type function_name( parameter list);

For the above defined function max(), following is the function declaration −

int max(int num1, int num2);

Parameter names are not important in function declaration only their type
is required, so following is also a valid declaration −

int max(int, int);

Function declaration is required when you define a function in one source file and you call that
function in another file. In such case, you should declare the function at the top of the file
calling the function.a
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 Function
Create a Function
• C++ provides some pre-defined functions, such as main(). But you can also
create your own functions to perform certain actions.

• To create (often referred to as declare) a function, specify the name of the

function, followed by parentheses ():

void myFunction() {
// code to be executed
}

•myFunction() is the name of the function

•void means that the function does not have a return value. You will learn more about return values later in the
next chapter
•inside the function (the body), add code that defines what the function should do

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 Function
Calling a Function
• While creating a C++ function, you give a definition of what the
function has to do. To use a function, you will have to call or
invoke that function.

• When a program calls a function, program control is

transferred to the called function. A called function performs
defined task and when it’s return statement is executed or
when its function-ending closing brace is reached, it returns
program control back to the main program.

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 Function

Calling a Function
• In the following example, myFunction() is used to print a text (the
action), when it is called:

// Create a function
void myFunction() {
cout << "I just got executed!";
}

int main() {
myFunction(); // call the function
return 0;
}

// Outputs "I just got executed!"

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 C++ Function Parameters

Parameters and Arguments

• Information can be passed to functions as a parameter. Parameters
act as variables inside the function.

• Parameters are specified after the function name, inside the

parentheses. You can add as many parameters as you want, just
separate them with a comma:

void functionName(parameter1, parameter2, parameter3) {

// code to be executed
}

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 C++ Function Parameters
Example:
void myFunction(string fname) {
cout << fname << " Refsnes\n";
}

int main() { The following example has a function that

myFunction("Liam"); takes a string called fname as parameter.
myFunction("Jenny"); When the function is called, we pass along a
myFunction("Anja"); first name, which is used inside the function
return 0; to print the full name:
}

// Liam Refsnes
// Jenny Refsnes
// Anja Refsnes

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 C++ The Return Keyword
Return Values

int myFunction(int x) {
return 5 + x;
}
The void keyword, used in the previous
examples, indicates that the function should
int main() { not return a value. If you want the function to
cout << myFunction(3); return a value, you can use a data type (such
return 0; as int, string, etc.) instead of void, and use
} the return keyword inside the function:

// Outputs 8 (5 + 3)

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 C++ The Return Keyword
Return Values

int myFunction(int x, int y) {

return x + y;
}

int main() { This example returns the sum of a

cout << myFunction(5, 3); function with two parameters
return 0;
}

// Outputs 8 (5 + 3)

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 C++ The Return Keyword
Return Values

int myFunction(int x, int y) {

return x + y;
}

int main() { You can also store the result in a

int z = myFunction(5, 3); variable
cout << z;
return 0;
}
// Outputs 8 (5 + 3)

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 C++ Reference
Creating References
A reference variable is a "reference" to an existing variable, and it is created with
the & operator:

Now, we can use either the variable name food or the reference name meal to refer to
the food variable:

You cannot have NULL references. You must

always be able to assume that a reference is
connected to a legitimate piece of storage.

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 C++ Functions - Pass By Reference
Pass By Reference
void swapNums(int &x, int &y) {
int z = x;
x = y;
y = z;
} You can also pass a reference to the
function. This can be useful when you
int main() { need to change the value of the
int firstNum = 10;
arguments:
int secondNum = 20;

cout << "Before swap: " << "\n";

cout << firstNum << secondNum << "\n";

// Call the function, which will change the values of firstNum

and secondNum
swapNums(firstNum, secondNum);

cout << "After swap: " << "\n";

cout << firstNum << secondNum << "\n";

return 0;
}
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 C++ Pointers
Some C++ tasks are performed more easily with pointers, and other C++ tasks,
such as dynamic memory allocation, cannot be performed without them.

every variable is a memory location and every memory location has its address defined
which can be accessed using ampersand (&) operator which denotes an address in
memory.

Consider the following which will print the address of the variables defined −

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 C++ Pointers
What are Pointers?
A pointer is a variable whose value is the address of another variable. Like any
variable or constant, you must declare a pointer before you can work with it. The
general form of a pointer variable declaration is −

Here, type is the pointer's base type; it must be a valid C++ type and var-name is the
name of the pointer variable. Following are the valid pointer declaration −

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 Using Pointers in C++
There are few important
operations, which we will do with
the pointers very frequently.

(a) We define a pointer variable.

(b) Assign the address of a variable

to a pointer.

(c) Finally access the value at the

address available in the pointer
variable. This is done by using
unary operator * that returns the
value of the variable located at the
address specified by its operand.

The following example makes use

of these operations −

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 Function Call by Pointer
// C++ program to implement
// pass-by-reference with pointers
#include <iostream>
Passing the variable address from using namespace std;
the calling function and using them
as a pointer inside the function is void f(int *x)
called the call-by-pointer. This {
method allows clearer visibility of *x = *x - 1;
functions in which the value of the }
passed variables may change. i.e.,
// Driver code
int main()
{
int a = 5;

cout << a << endl;

f(&a);
cout << a << endl;
}

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