Invoke vs Call a Function – Learn the Difference
"Invoke a function" and "Call a function" are popular programming terms. But what exactly do they mean? Let's find out.
What Does "Invoke a Function" Mean in Programming?
"Invoke a function" means executing a function to retrieve its value.
How to invoke a function
We use the function's name and an invocator (()
) to invoke a function.
Here's the syntax:
functionName();
Examples
Below are examples of how to invoke a function.
How to invoke a function without an argument
// Define a function:
function multiplyNumbers() {
return 3 * 100;
}
// Invoke the multiplyNumbers function:
multiplyNumbers();
// The invocation above will return: 300
The snippet above invoked the multiplyNumbers
function without passing any argument to its parameters.
How to invoke a function with two arguments
// Define a function:
function multiplyNumbers(a, b) {
return a * b;
}
// Invoke the multiplyNumbers function:
multiplyNumbers(3, 100);
// The invocation above will return: 300
The snippet above invoked the multiplyNumbers
function while passing two arguments (3
and 100
) to its parameters (a
and b
).
What Does "Call a Function" Mean in Programming?
"Calling a function" means to call for a function without retrieving its value.
How to call a function
We use the function's name only to call a function.
Here's the syntax:
functionName;
Example
// Define a function:
function multiplyNumbers(a, b) {
return a * b;
}
// Call the multiplyNumbers function:
multiplyNumbers;
// The call above will return:
ƒ multiplyNumbers(a, b) {
return a * b;
}
The snippet above used the function's name (multiplyNumbers
) to call the function without retrieving its value.
Overview
"Function invocation" invokes a value from a function. But "function calling" calls for the function.