JavaScript Functions

Functions

"People think that computer science is the art of geniuses but the actual reality is the opposite, just many people doing things that build on each other, like a wall of mini stones". -- Donald Knuth

Functions are the bread and butter of JavaScript programming. The concept of wrapping a piece of program in a value has many uses. It gives us a way to structure larger programs, to reduce repetition, to associate names with subprograms, and to isolate these subprograms from each other.

The most obvious application of functions is defining new vocabulary. Creating new words in prose is usually bad style. But in programming, it is indispensable.

Typical adult English speakers have some 20,000 words in their vocabulary. Few programming languages come with 20,000 commands built in. And the vocabulary that is available tends to be more precisely defined, and thus less flexible, than in human language. Therefore, we usually have to introduce new concepts to avoid repeating ourselves too much.

Source: Marijn Haverbeke, https://eloquentjavascript.net/03_functions.html
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