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Index › Programming Questions & Help › Programs › understanding PVector function
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understanding PVector function? (Read 577 times)
mateooo
understanding PVector function?
Aug 28th, 2009, 6:19pm  
hello, i was trying to understand the flocking code from processing examples and theres something new i never seen before, what does it means when you make this?
PVector align (ArrayList boids) {
}

why does he puts the name of a class instead of void? is this a different way to make a function? which are the differences with void?

thanks


M.
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pokoto
Re: understanding PVector function?
Reply #1 - Aug 28th, 2009, 6:55pm  
It means the function returns a PVector. A lengthy discussion about how object oriented programming works could stem from this, but suffice to say, a function generally has three things appending its content: the return type, the name, and the parameters. In

PVector align (ArrayList boids) {
}

the return type is a PVector, the name is "align", and the paramater is an ArrayList called boids. If you look at the bottom of the method, you'll note that it returns "sum", which is a PVector. If the method returns nothing, then you append void.

When an object calls the align function, it will have to supply an ArrayList, and will expect a PVector in return.
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