Functional Programming - Call By Value

After defining a function, we need pass arguments into it to get desired output. Most programming languages support call by value and call by reference methods for passing arguments into functions.

In this chapter, we will learn "call by value" works in an object-oriented programming language like C++ and a functional programming language like Python.

In Call by Value method, the original value cannot be changed. When we pass an argument to a function, it is stored locally by the function parameter in stack memory. Hence, the values are changed inside the function only and it will not have an effect outside the function.

Call by Value in C++

The following program shows how Call by Value works in C++ −

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 

void swap(int a, int b) {    
   int temp; 
   temp = a; 
   a = b; 
   b = temp; 
   cout<<"\n"<<"value of a inside the function: "<<a; 
   cout<<"\n"<<"value of b inside the function: "<<b; 
}  
int main() {     
   int a = 50, b = 70;   
   cout<<"value of a before sending to function: "<<a; 
   cout<<"\n"<<"value of b before sending to function: "<<b; 
   swap(a, b);  // passing value to function 
   cout<<"\n"<<"value of a after sending to function: "<<a; 
   cout<<"\n"<<"value of b after sending to function: "<<b; 
   return 0;   
}  

It will produce the following output −

value of a before sending to function:  50 
value of b before sending to function:  70 
value of a inside the function:  70 
value of b inside the function:  50 
value of a after sending to function:  50 
value of b after sending to function:  70 

Call by Value in Python

The following program shows how Call by Value works in Python −

def swap(a,b): 
   t = a; 
   a = b; 
   b = t; 
   print "value of a inside the function: :",a 
   print "value of b inside the function: ",b 

# Now we can call the swap function 
a = 50 
b = 75 
print "value of a before sending to function: ",a 
print "value of b before sending to function: ",b 
swap(a,b) 
print "value of a after sending to function: ", a 
print "value of b after sending to function: ",b 

It will produce the following output −

value of a before sending to function:  50 
value of b before sending to function:  75 
value of a inside the function: : 75 
value of b inside the function:  50 
value of a after sending to function:  50 
value of b after sending to function:  75