Newbie question: what is the control portion of a program?

[zachzheng]

context is:

Generally speaking, a function processes
information passed to it from the calling portion of the program, and returns
a single value.

 

[Coyote Girl]

Good question. Think of a boy sent to the store who was told by Mom "remember, I need milk...here`s $3 for it and hurry back to our home with it". So, Jakey (function call) scampers off as fast as his little feet can carry him, clutching his $3 (input variable to function) to the store (function). The store takes the money in exchange for the milk (the return value) and Jakey runs to Mom (calling function or object) and gives her what she wants as she`s the controller of the household. Another analogy of the control is an air traffic controller directing traffic, as execution of function liftoff only happens when the air traffic controller (or Main) hits that function call.