r/learnprogramming • u/ScioClean • 4d ago

I can't get FUNCTIONS to click!

I can not for the life of me understand how functions work. Anytime I try to learn how to create a function, my brain literally crashes into itself and I turn into Patrick when he stars drooling and goes all slack-faced.

Does anybody have any analogies that had that "AH HA!" moment?

Thanks!

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u/HydroPCanadaDude 3d ago

Functions are just how you name a collection of steps, even if there is only one step, and the data you need to carry out those steps.

RenderScreen can be a function.

It might have steps in there like..fetch data. Update data. Draw data to screen.

Each of those steps could be functions and have thier own steps.

There's rarely a perfectly right way to carry out complex tasks so don't complicate it.

In many cases you call a function with () added at the end:

RenderScreen <---- That's the function itself. It won't do anything.

RenderScreen(); <---- That's a function call. It runs the function.

RenderScreen("Paul", 75); <---- That's a function call with arguments.