Write Great Code, Volume 2, 2nd Edition

15FUNCTIONS AND PROCEDURES

Since the beginning of the structured programming revolution in the 1970s, subroutines (procedures and functions) have been one of the primary tools software engineers use to organize, modularize, and otherwise structure their programs. Because procedure and function calls are used so frequently in code, CPU manufacturers have attempted to make them as efficient as possible. Nevertheless, these calls—and their associated returns—have costs that many programmers don’t consider when creating functions, and using them inappropriately can greatly increase a program’s size and execution time. This chapter discusses those ...