Invoke vs Call a Function – Learn the Difference
“Function invocation” invokes a value from a function, while “function calling” calls for the function. Let’s discuss these differences.
What Does “Invoke a Function” Mean in Programming?
“Invoke a function” means executing a function to retrieve its value. We use the function’s name and an invocator (()
) to invoke a function.
Here’s the syntax:
functionName();
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. We use the function’s name only to call a function.
Here’s the syntax:
functionName;
Here’s an 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.