CSCI 360

Survey Of Programming
Languages

8 – Subprograms

Spring, 2008
Doug L Hoffman, PhD

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CSCI 360 – Survey Of Programming Languages

Chapter 9 Topics

 Introduction
 Fundamentals of Subprograms
 Design Issues for Subprograms
 Local Referencing Environments
 Parameter-Passing Methods
 Parameters That Are Subprogram Names
 Overloaded Subprograms
 Generic Subprograms
 Design Issues for Functions
 User-Defined Overloaded Operators
 Coroutines

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Introduction

 Two fundamental abstraction facilities

– Process abstraction
 Emphasized from early days
– Data abstraction
 Emphasized in the1980s

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Fundamentals of Subprograms

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Fundamentals of Subprograms

 Each subprogram has a single entry point

 The calling program is suspended during execution
of the called subprogram
 Control always returns to the caller when the called
subprogram’s execution terminates

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Basic Definitions

 A subprogram definition describes the interface to and the

actions of the subprogram abstraction
 A subprogram call is an explicit request that the subprogram
be executed
 A subprogram header is the first part of the definition,
including the name, the kind of subprogram, and the formal
parameters
 The parameter profile (aka signature) of a subprogram is
the number, order, and types of its parameters
 The protocol is a subprogram’s parameter profile and, if it is
a function, its return type

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Basic Definitions (continued)

 Function declarations in C and C++ are often called

prototypes
 A subprogram declaration provides the protocol, but not the
body, of the subprogram
 A formal parameter is a dummy variable listed in the
subprogram header and used in the subprogram
 An actual parameter represents a value or address used in
the subprogram call statement

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Actual/Formal Parameter Correspondence

 Positional
– The binding of actual parameters to formal parameters
is by position: the first actual parameter is bound to the
first formal parameter and so forth
– Safe and effective
 Keyword
– The name of the formal parameter to which an actual
parameter is to be bound is specified with the actual
parameter
– Parameters can appear in any order

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Formal Parameter Default Values

 In certain languages (e.g., C++, Ada), formal

parameters can have default values (if not actual
parameter is passed)
– In C++, default parameters must appear last because
parameters are positionally associated
 C# methods can accept a variable number of
parameters as long as they are of the same type

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Procedures and Functions

 There are two categories of subprograms

– Procedures are collection of statements that define
parameterized computations
– Functions structurally resemble procedures but are
semantically modeled on mathematical functions
 They are expected to produce no side effects
 In practice, program functions have side effects

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Design Issues for Subprograms

 What parameter passing methods are provided?

 Are parameter types checked?
 Are local variables static or dynamic?
 Can subprogram definitions appear in other
subprogram definitions?
 Can subprograms be overloaded?
 Can subprogram be generic?

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Local Referencing Environments

 Local variables can be stack-dynamic (bound to storage)
– Advantages
 Support for recursion
 Storage for locals is shared among some subprograms
– Disadvantages
 Allocation/de-allocation, initialization time
 Indirect addressing
 Subprograms cannot be history sensitive

 Local variables can be static

– More efficient (no indirection)
– No run-time overhead
– Cannot support recursion (FORTRAN)

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Parameter Passing

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Parameter Passing Methods

 Ways in which parameters are transmitted to

and/or from called subprograms
– Pass-by-value
– Pass-by-result
– Pass-by-value-result
– Pass-by-reference
– Pass-by-name

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Models of Parameter Passing

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Pass-by-Value (In Mode)

 The value of the actual parameter is used to
initialize the corresponding formal parameter
– Normally implemented by copying
– Can be implemented by transmitting an access path
but not recommended (enforcing write protection is not
easy)
– When copies are used, additional storage is required
– Storage and copy operations can be costly

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Pass-by-Result (Out Mode)

 When a parameter is passed by result, no value
is transmitted to the subprogram; the cor-
responding formal parameter acts as a local
variable; its value is transmitted to caller’s actual
parameter when control is returned to the caller
– Require extra storage location and copy operation
 Potential problem: sub(p1, p1); whichever
formal parameter is copied back will represent the
current value of p1

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Pass-by-Value-Result (inout Mode)

 A combination of pass-by-value and pass-by-result

 Sometimes called pass-by-copy
 Formal parameters have local storage
 Disadvantages:
– Those of pass-by-result
– Those of pass-by-value

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Pass-by-Reference (Inout Mode)

 Pass an access path
 Also called pass-by-sharing
 Passing process is efficient (no copying and no
duplicated storage)
 Disadvantages
– Slower accesses (compared to pass-by-value) to formal
parameters
– Potentials for un-wanted side effects
– Un-wanted aliases (access broadened)

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Pass-by-Name (Inout Mode)

 By textual substitution
 Formals are bound to an access method at the
time of the call, but actual binding to a value or
address takes place at the time of a reference or
assignment
 Allows flexibility in late binding

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Implementing Parameter-Passing Methods

 In most language parameter communication takes

place thru the run-time stack
 Pass-by-reference are the simplest to implement;
only an address is placed in the stack
 A subtle but fatal error can occur with pass-by-
reference and pass-by-value-result: a formal
parameter corresponding to a constant can
mistakenly be changed

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Parameter Passing Methods of Major Languages

 Fortran
– Always used the inout semantics model
– Before Fortran 77: pass-by-reference
– Fortran 77 and later: scalar variables are often passed by value-
result
 C
– Pass-by-value
– Pass-by-reference is achieved by using pointers as parameters
 C++
– A special pointer type called reference type for pass-by-reference
 Java
– All parameters are passed are passed by value
– Object parameters are passed by reference
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Parameter Passing Methods of Major Languages (continued)

 Ada
– Three semantics modes of parameter transmission: in, out,
in out; in is the default mode
– Formal parameters declared out can be assigned but not
referenced; those declared in can be referenced but not
assigned; in out parameters can be referenced and assigned
 C#
– Default method: pass-by-value
– Pass-by-reference is specified by preceding both a formal
parameter and its actual parameter with ref
 PHP: very similar to C#
 Perl: all actual parameters are implicitly placed in a
predefined array named @_

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Type Checking Parameters

 Considered very important for reliability
 FORTRAN 77 and original C: none
 Pascal, FORTRAN 90, Java, and Ada: it is always
required
 ANSI C and C++: choice is made by the user
– Prototypes
 Relatively new languages Perl, JavaScript, and
PHP do not require type checking

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters

 If a multidimensional array is passed to a

subprogram and the subprogram is separately
compiled, the compiler needs to know the
declared size of that array to build the storage
mapping function

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: C and C++

 Programmer is required to include the declared

sizes of all but the first subscript in the actual
parameter
 Disallows writing flexible subprograms
 Solution: pass a pointer to the array and the sizes
of the dimensions as other parameters; the user
must include the storage mapping function in
terms of the size parameters

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: Pascal and Ada

 Pascal
– Not a problem; declared size is part of the
array’s type
 Ada
– Constrained arrays - like Pascal
– Unconstrained arrays - declared size is part of
the object declaration

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: Fortran

 Formal parameter that are arrays have a

declaration after the header
– For single-dimension arrays, the subscript is
irrelevant
– For multi-dimensional arrays, the subscripts
allow the storage-mapping function

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Multidimensional Arrays as Parameters: Java and C#

 Similar to Ada
 Arrays are objects; they are all single-dimensioned,
but the elements can be arrays
 Each array inherits a named constant (length in
Java, Length in C#) that is set to the length of the
array when the array object is created

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Design Considerations for Parameter Passing

 Two important considerations

– Efficiency
– One-way or two-way data transfer
 But the above considerations are in conflict
– Good programming suggest limited access to variables,
which means one-way whenever possible
– But pass-by-reference is more efficient to pass
structures of significant size

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Parameters that are Subprogram Names

 It is sometimes convenient to pass
subprogram names as parameters
 Issues:
1. Are parameter types checked?
2. What is the correct referencing environment
for a subprogram that was sent as a
parameter?

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Subprogram Names as Parameters: Parameter Type Checking

 C and C++: functions cannot be passed as

parameters but pointers to functions can be
passed; parameters can be type checked
 FORTRAN 95 type checks
 Later versions of Pascal and
 Ada does not allow subprogram parameters; a
similar alternative is provided via Ada’s generic
facility

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Subprogram Names as Parameters: Referencing Environment

 Shallow binding: The environment of the call

statement that enacts the passed subprogram
 Deep binding: The environment of the definition of
the passed subprogram
 Ad hoc binding: The environment of the call
statement that passed the subprogram

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Overloaded Subprograms
 An overloaded subprogram is one that has the same name
as another subprogram in the same referencing
environment
– Every version of an overloaded subprogram has a unique protocol
 C++, Java, C#, and Ada include predefined overloaded
subprograms
 In Ada, the return type of an overloaded function can be
used to disambiguate calls (thus two overloaded functions
can have the same parameters)
 Ada, Java, C++, and C# allow users to write multiple
versions of subprograms with the same name

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Generic Subprograms

 A generic or polymorphic subprogram takes

parameters of different types on different
activations
 Overloaded subprograms provide ad hoc
polymorphism
 A subprogram that takes a generic parameter that
is used in a type expression that describes the type
of the parameters of the subprogram provides
parametric polymorphism

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Examples of parametric polymorphism: C++

template <class Type>

Type max(Type first, Type second) {
return first > second ? first : second;
}

 The above template can be instantiated for any type for

which operator > is defined

int max (int first, int second) {

return first > second? first : second;
}

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Functions and Co-routines

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Design Issues for Functions

 Are side effects allowed?
– Parameters should always be in-mode to reduce side
effect (like Ada)
 What types of return values are allowed?
– Most imperative languages restrict the return types
– C allows any type except arrays and functions
– C++ is like C but also allows user-defined types
– Ada allows any type
– Java and C# do not have functions but methods can
have any type

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User-Defined Overloaded Operators

 Operators can be overloaded in Ada and C++

 An Ada example
Function “*”(A,B: in Vec_Type): return Integer is
Sum: Integer := 0;
begin
for Index in A’range loop
Sum := Sum + A(Index) * B(Index)
end loop
return sum;
end “*”;
…
c = a * b; -- a, b, and c are of type Vec_Type

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Coroutines
 A coroutine is a subprogram that has multiple entries and
controls them itself
 Also called symmetric control: caller and called coroutines
are on a more equal basis
 A coroutine call is named a resume
 The first resume of a coroutine is to its beginning, but
subsequent calls enter at the point just after the last
executed statement in the coroutine
 Coroutines repeatedly resume each other, possibly
forever
 Coroutines provide quasi-concurrent execution of program
units (the coroutines); their execution is interleaved, but
not overlapped
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Coroutines Illustrated: Possible Execution Controls

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Coroutines Illustrated: Possible Execution Controls

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Coroutines Illustrated: Possible Execution Controls with Loops

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Summary

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Summary

 A subprogram definition describes the actions represented

by the subprogram
 Subprograms can be either functions or procedures
 Local variables in subprograms can be stack-dynamic or
static
 Three models of parameter passing: in mode, out mode,
and inout mode
 Some languages allow operator overloading
 Subprograms can be generic
 A coroutine is a special subprogram with multiple entries

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Next Time…

Implementing
Subprograms

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