subroutine
SaySUB-roo-teen/ˈsʌbɹuˌtin/UK/ˈsʌbɹuːˌtiːn/
Pluralsubroutines
- 1A block of code that the main part of a program calls on to perform a specific task.
The main loop calls a subroutine to check the password before it loads the account.
Moving the tax calculation into its own subroutine made the code much easier to test.
Note
A routine within a routine, as sub- plus routine suggests: the program calls it, it does its one task, and control returns to the caller. Programmers often use subroutine, function and procedure interchangeably. Where a language separates them, a function hands back a value while a procedure simply does its job, and subroutine is the umbrella that covers both.
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Origin
Formed from sub- + routine.