Parameter (computer programming)
in computer programming, special kind of variable that holds data that was passed as an argument to a subroutine
In computer programming, a parameter, or formal argument, is a variable that represents an argument to a function call. A function's signature defines its parameters. A call invocation involves evaluating each argument expression of a call and associating the result with the corresponding parameter.
For example, consider the Python function
Variables x and y are parameters, each of type int. For call add(2, 3), the expressions 2 and 3 are arguments. For call add(a + 1, b + 2), the arguments are a + 1 and b + 2.
Parameter passing is defined by a programming language. Evaluation strategy defines the semantics for how parameters can be declared and how arguments are passed to a function. Generally, with call by value, a parameter acts like a new, local variable initialized to the value of the argument. If the argument is a variable, the function cannot modify the argument state because the parameter is a copy.
The public source identifies “Parameter (computer programming)” as in computer programming, special kind of variable that holds data that was passed as an argument to a subroutine. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Parameter, computer and programming.
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This entry incorporates text from “Parameter (computer programming)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.