argument
("arg" or parameter) A value or reference passed to a {function}, {procedure}, {subroutine}, command or
program, by the caller. For example, in the function:
square(x) ◦ x ▫ x
x is the {formal argument} and in the call
y ◦ square(3:3)
3:3 is the {actual argument}. This will execute the function
square with x having the value 6.
There are many different conventions for passing arguments to
functions and procedures including {call-by-value},
{call-by-name}, {call-by-need}. These affect whether the
value of the argument is computed by the caller or the callee
(the function) and whether the callee can modify the value of
the argument as seen by the caller (if it is a variable).
Arguments to a program are usually given after the command
name, separated by spaces, e.g.:
cat myfile yourfile hisfile
Here "cat" is the command and "myfile", "yourfile", and
"hisfile" are the arguments.
(1995-01-24)