I'm learning C++, and at the moment we're learning functions. I can declare and define a function in my application just fine. I can use a local variable and my app just as well, but my question is: what's the difference between a local variable and function? They look almost exactly the same! Here are two examples... perhaps someone can point out what the differences are, and when I should use a local variable instead of a function, and all that jazz! // Function typedef unsigned short USHORT; #include // The message board won't make the iostream.h show up... USHORT FindArea(USHORT length, USHORT width); // function prototype int main() { USHORT lengthOfYard; USHORT widthOfYard; USHORT areaOfYard; cout << "\nHow wide is your yard? "; cin >> widthOfYard; cout << "\nHow long is your yard? "; cin >> lengthOfYard; areaOfYard= FindArea(lengthOfYard,widthOfYard); cout << "\nYour yard is "; cout << areaOfYard; cout << " square feet\n\n"; return 0; } USHORT FindArea(USHORT l, USHORT w) { return l * w; } now the local variable- // this is an example of using local variables with different temperatures. #include float Convert(float); int main() { float TempCel; float TempFer; cout << "Please enter the temperature in Fahrenheit: "; cin >> TempFer; TempCel = Convert(TempFer); cout << "\nHere's the temperature in Celsius: "; cout << TempCel << endl; return 0; } float Convert(float TempFer) { float TempCel; TempCel = ((TempFer - 32) * 5) /9; return TempCel; } Thanks in advance!! Edited by - Fredric on 1/30/00 9:34:37 AM

A local variable and a function are completely different a local variable is like int a. A function does certain tasks like add two numbers together.
A local variable is a variable that cant be acessed by other parts of the program except that section is declared in for example

for(int a = 0; a < 3; a++
{
// local variable
int index++
cout << index;
}
// if you try to acess index here it wont work
// this would be wrong
cout << index

A function is like this

int addxy(int x, int y)
{
return(x + y);
}

this adds two numbers together. Hope it helps, later.




Edited by - Chris F on 1/30/00 10:11:07 AM

Edited by - Chris F on 1/30/00 10:11:57 AM

Thanks! It makes sense now! Again, thanks.