Can someone give me a solid definition of this? I've looked around Google, stackflow, etc. but I am still a bit confused. Also what is the industry standard regarding the naming convention. Parameter and argument? Formal and actual parameters/arguments?

are you asking what the difference is between parameter and argument? arguments are passed, parameters are accepted

eg:

void mymethod(int param1, int param2){ // param1 and param2 are parameters
...
}

mymethod(1, 2); // 1 and 2 are arguments

generally, nobody cares if you mix them up. you can figure it out by context.

or are you asking how to name the parameters vs local variables? pick whatever you/group decide on.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Apr 12 2014 05:22pm

Most important thing here

Thanks again buddy. That top part answered one question. My other question is:

For those who work in the industry writing code. Is it standard to call them Formal Parameters and Actual Parameters? Or Formal Arguments and Actual Arguments? Or finally, Parameters and Arguments.

I've noticed across the net people call it different things which can get confusing so what does the "industry" call it. Do they use formal vs. actual and is it parameter or argument or both?

you're over thinking this. language exists so people can communicate. if you understand what the other guy is talking about, kudos. i have never heard anyone prefix it with "formal" or "actual" to differentiate value vs variable, so don't ever use it.

imo it's kinda like the "who/whom" situation. the vast majority of americans use "who" for both cases, even though "whom" may be correct. and guess what? nobody cares. stick to whatever people around you are comfortable with.

i think you're imagining that developers sit around saying shit like "hey, can i pass my rate as an argument to your function?" dunno what you're expecting.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Apr 13 2014 04:56pm

To expand on this: the only people who I have found that care about using the correct terminology when talking about args vs params are interns looking to prove themselves. They seem to think we are more concerned with their vocabulary than their problem solving.

That isn't to say it doesn't matter. If I was to tell one of my team members "The functions args are wrong." That is a completely different sentence than saying "The functions params are wrong." The former suggests the function is being used improperly. The later suggests the function is declared improperly. Luckily for us, there is such a thing as context. And context allows us to discern just what it is we are talking about.

Cool. Thanks guys.

Another question. So parameters are only used to initialize a function while arguments call a function? What about loops and such.



So int count = 0 is a parameter. Are count < 5; count++ the arguments or are those parameters as well?

Or is it that arguments are passed to parameters? I still am unsure as to what to call what in what situation. I guess I am still confused on when something is a parameter and when it is an argument.

This post was edited by NinjaSushi2 on Apr 16 2014 03:56pm

those are just expressions. "for" isn't a function. quit overthinking it.

So a parameter defines the type/name/etc, while an argument is the value passed in.

edit: I know for isn't a function.

This post was edited by NinjaSushi2 on Apr 16 2014 05:24pm