Question

Assuming I have this code:

function question($argument)
{
    var $q = "What does ($argument) mean?";
}

Can any tell me is there any other word (or phrase) that defines what an argument is?
I’m asking this because English is my second language, and I can’t for life find a word in my language that defines “argument” in “programming”.

I understand how arguments work, and what they are for, I just need a synonym word or phrase to be able to translate it to my language to make it easy to use and understand.

The best thing that I came up with (in my language) is (Passed Variable(s)), does that sound right? Is there any better wording?

Thanks

Answer 1

I wouldn’t use “passed variable” because arguments do not have to be variables.

Perhaps the most common usage of the term is seen in this example. Consider

// A function definition
function f(x, y) {
    .... 
}

// A function call
f(57/p*q+4, z);

Most people would call x and y parameters, and call 57/p*q+4 and z arguments. Note that parameters are variables (unless the language has pattern-matching, not too common) and that arguments can be arbitrary expressions.

Now you may hear people call x and y “formal parameters” while the arguments are “actual parameters” but IMHO this distinction is a little old-fashioned. I may be wrong though.

The thing is that the argument is the expression that is passed to the parameter in a function call. So maybe “passed expression” is better than “passed variable” at the very least. Have fun translating. One fun thing about the vocabulary of computing is that almost every word (function, procedure, type, label, constant, variable, expression, declaration, statement, operator, argument, parameter, etc.) is just borrowed from a plain old English word. There aren’t too many novel terms.