What's the difference between a method and a function?

Question

Can someone provide a simple explanation of methods vs. functions in OOP context?

Answer 1

'method' is the object-oriented word for 'function'. That's pretty much all there is to it (ie., no real difference).

Unfortunately, I think a lot of the answers here are perpetuating or advancing the idea that there's some complex, meaningful difference.

Really - there isn't all that much to it, just different words for the same thing.

[late addition]

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In fact, as Brian Neal pointed out in a comment to this question, the C++ standard never uses the term 'method' when refering to member functions. Some people may take that as an indication that C++ isn't really an object-oriented language; however, I prefer to take it as an indication that a pretty smart group of people didn't think there was a particularly strong reason to use a different term.

Answer 2

A function is a piece of code that is called by name. It can be passed data to operate on (i.e. the parameters) and can optionally return data (the return value). All data that is passed to a function is explicitly passed.

A method is a piece of code that is called by a name that is associated with an object. In most respects it is identical to a function except for two key differences:

1. A method is implicitly passed the object on which it was called.
2. A method is able to operate on data that is contained within the class (remembering that an object is an instance of a class - the class is the definition, the object is an instance of that data).

(this is a simplified explanation, ignoring issues of scope etc.)

Answer 3

Let's say a function is a block of code (usually with its own scope, and sometimes with its own closure) that may receive some arguments and may also return a result.

A method is a function that is owned by an object (in some object oriented systems, it is more correct to say it is owned by a class). Being "owned" by a object/class means that you refer to the method through the object/class; for example, in Java if you want to invoke a method "open()" owned by an object "door" you need to write "door.open()".

Usually methods also gain some extra attributes describing their behaviour within the object/class, for example: visibility (related to the object oriented concept of encapsulation) which defines from which objects (or classes) the method can be invoked.

In many object oriented languages, all "functions" belong to some object (or class) and so in these languages there are no functions that are not methods.

Answer 4

In OO languages such as Object Pascal or C++, a "method" is a function associated with an object. So, for example, a "Dog" object might have a "bark" function and this would be considered a "Method". In contrast, the "StrLen" function stands alone (it provides the length of a string provided as an argument). It is thus just a "function." Javascript is technically Object Oriented as well but faces many limitations compared to a full-blown language like C++, C# or Pascal. Nonetheless, the distinction should still hold.

A couple of additional facts: C# is fully object oriented so you cannot create standalone "functions." In C# every function is bound to an object and is thus, technically, a "method." The kicker is that few people in C# refer to them as "methods" - they just use the term "functions" because there isn't any real distinction to be made.

Finally - just so any Pascal gurus don't jump on me here - Pascal also differentiates between "functions" (which return a value) and "procedures" which do not. C# does not make this distinction explicitly although you can, of course, choose to return a value or not.

Answer 5

From my understanding a method is any operation which can be performed on a class. It is a general term used in programming.

In many languages methods are represented by functions and subroutines. The main distinction that most languages use for these is that functions may return a value back to the caller and a subroutine may not. However many modern languages only have functions, but these can optionally not return any value.

For example, lets say you want to describe a cat and you would like that to be able to yawn. You would create a Cat class, with a Yawn method, which would most likely be a function without any return value.

Answer 6

In general: methods are functions that belong to a class, functions can be on any other scope of the code so you could state that all methods are functions, but not all functions are methods:

Take the following python example:

class Door:
  def open(self):
    print 'hello stranger'

def knock_door:
  a_door = Door()
  Door.open(a_door)

knock_door()

The example given shows you a class called "Door" which has a method or action called "open", it is called a method because it was declared inside a class. There is another portion of code with "def" just below which defines a function, it is a function because it is not declared inside a class, this function calls the method we defined inside our class as you can see and finally the function is being called by itself.

As you can see you can call a function anywhere but if you want to call a method either you have to pass a new object of the same type as the class the method is declared (Class.method(object)) or you have to invoke the method inside the object (object.Method()), at least in python.

Think of methods as things only one entity can do, so if you have a Dog class it would make sense to have a bark function only inside that class and that would be a method, if you have also a Person class it could make sense to write a function "feed" for that doesn't belong to any class since both humans and dogs can be fed and you could call that a function since it does not belong to any class in particular.