Whats the point of "void"

SanchezLeslie

void blah() { }

whats the point of the word void?

fuzzySi

it is used in a function to define the return type, means there isn't one. Just roll with it. If the function returned an integer, it would be int blah() {}

quark

It indicates that the function does not return a value. For instance the method

float foofoo(){

}

must return a float

GoToLoop

The point is that w/o keyword void, Java compiler's parser wouldn't be able to distinguish (or at least have a very hard time to figure that out) whether we're defining some function w/o a returning type or simply invoking it! ;))

kfrajer

From experience, it is important for automatic syntax checking. If you have something like float myFunction(){}, then you will have an error stating that myFunction needs to return a float:

float myFunction(){
  float f=0.0;
  return f;
}

On the other hand, you won't have any complaints when using void. Syntax checking will know that there is nothing to return.

I hope this helps,

Kf