Concept: functions #715
Concept: functions #715
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concepts/functions/introduction.md
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| function funcname { COMMANDS; } | ||
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| There is no difference between the two styles. |
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Should we recommend the portable syntax?
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My personal preference, based on my time in the IRC channel, is for the portable version.
Mentioning two approaches without any suggestion in one direction or the other can leave someone new to the syntax a bit ... confused/adrift about which to use.
concepts/functions/introduction.md
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| function funcname { COMMANDS; } | ||
| ``` | ||
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| There is no difference between the two styles. |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
My personal preference, based on my time in the IRC channel, is for the portable version.
Mentioning two approaches without any suggestion in one direction or the other can leave someone new to the syntax a bit ... confused/adrift about which to use.
concepts/functions/introduction.md
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| ``` | ||
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| ## Return Value |
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A function call has one return value. A function can have many calls and many return values.
A function variable has one name and one value (at any given time).
It feels very odd to me for them to be inconsistent.
| ## Recursion | ||
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| Functions can call themselves recursively. | ||
| By default, there is no limit to the depth of recursion. |
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No recursion limit ... but factorials would overflow pretty quickly 😄
glennj
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Regarding the 2 ways to define a function, I simply removed one of them. Frustratingly even the google shell style guide mixes the styles. |
| Otherwise, the variable is placed in the _global scope_. | ||
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| Local variables can have the same name as a global variable. | ||
| In that case, the local variable _temporarily_ overrides the global one, and the global value is restored when the function returns. |
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Can we explain this in a different way, where it is more clear what is happening. Effectively, the description is accurate, but the global value is only overwritten, not in a state where it must be restored, it is not like it was "gone" or "delete". Is this, maybe, a situation where the lookup table order matters, and when found we do not look for anything else with the same name?
The global really did not go anywhere, it is more like the name of the variable is found, and so there is no reason to continue looking, the next place to look being from the local scope to the global scope.
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As mentioned in the diff view, maybe it is explained well in lines +72 to +73
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I am thinking about this, but I have a holiday cold so I can't real concentrate ATM
Functions concept