Introduction to Computer Organization

14 Inside Subfunctions

Good engineering practice generally includes breaking problems down into functionally distinct subproblems. In software, this approach leads to programs with many functions, each of which solves a subproblem. This “divide and conquer” approach has distinct advantages:

1. It’s easier to solve a small subproblem.
2. Previous solutions to subproblems are often reusable.
3. Several people can be working on different parts of the overall problem simultaneously.

When breaking down a problem like this, it’s important to coordinate the many partial solutions so that they work together to provide a correct overall solution. In software, ...