Functions - arguments and parameters

 
  • Parameters are like placeholders for data that will be passed to a function.
  • Arguments are the actual values passed to a function while calling it
function calculateBill(billAmount, taxRate) { // here billAmount, taxRate are parameters
  const total = billAmount + billAmount * taxRate 
  return total;
}

calculateBill(100, 0.13); // here 100, 0.13 are arguments
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  • Parameters are variables local to the function; available only inside the function.
  • You can also pass variables as arguments during a function call.
  • We can also pass expressions as arguments to a function.
    • myTotal3 = calculateBill(20+20+30, 0.3);
  • So, we can either pass direct value or variables holding value or expressions resulting in a value to a function as arguments.
  • Passing functions as arguments:
    • function doctorize (name) { 
      	return `Dr. ${name}`;
      }
      
      function yell (name) {
      	return `HEY ${name.toUpperCase()}`;
      }
      
      // We can pass a function inside another
      yell(doctorize('Soumya')); // HEY DR. SOUMYA
      // Above, returned value of doctorize function is passed to yell function
    • Default values:
      • function yell (name = 'Silly Goose') {
        	return `HEY ${name.toUpperCase()}`;
        }
        
        yell('Soumya') // HEY SOUMYA
        yell() // HEY SILLY GOOSE
        
        // Above, if we don't pass any argument to yell function, then it takes the default value in function definition,
        // here Silly Goose, else it takes whatever we pass as argument.
    • Important gotcha:
      • function calculateBill(billAmount, taxRate = 0.13, tipRate = 0.15) {
          console.log('Running Calculate Bill!!');
          const total = billAmount + billAmount * taxRate + billAmount * tipRate;
          return total;
        }
        
        // Suppose above, we want to pass the tipRate but not the taxRate and want taxRate to be default,
        // then the only thing we can do is:
         
        calculateBill(100, undefined, 0.66); // here the taxRate will default to 0.13 as 
        // we have passed undefined to it and the tipRate will be 0.66 as passed