Hello, There seem to be at least two different "programming paradigms":
- Procedural programming, where the subroutines make changes to the system; and - Functional programming, where called methods only return results to the calling method (ie, the called method does not perform any work which changes "state" of the system itself). There is some discussion of functional programming on Wikipedia. I looked back on forum messages and didn't find a discussion on this topic. Is it too abstract to be practical? When I'm creating something in 4D, I use both approaches. When some task runs to thousands of lines of code, I break it up into subroutines. Usually the subroutines perform the actual work - calculations which update field or array values. In some instances, I will write a routine which returns the work product without making other changes. But usually the task becomes more complicated when it must return its work, rather than simply doing the work. 4D does not seem to lend itself to the functional approach. When designing something new, do you give any thought to using one or the other approach? Do you force yourself to only return values to a calling method? Or do these paradigms represent a distinction of no practical significance? Thanks, Don ********************************************************************** 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) FAQ: http://lists.4d.com/faqnug.html Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html Options: http://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech Unsub: mailto:4d_tech-unsubscr...@lists.4d.com **********************************************************************
