subroutine

programming (Or "procedure") A sequence of instructions

for performing a particular task. Most programming languages,

including most machine languages, allow the programmer to

define subroutines. This allows the subroutine code to be

called from multiple places, even from within itself (in which

case it is called recursive). The programming language

implementation takes care of returning control to (just after)

the calling location, usually with the support of call and

return instructions at machine language level.

Most languages also allow arguments to be passed to the

subroutine, and one, or occasionally more, return values to

be passed back.

A function is often very similar to a subroutine, the main

difference being that it is called chiefly for its return

value, rather than for any side effects.

(1996-10-01)