Comment by zoomablemind

> ... Why do we "call" functions?

I always thought that the functions did not need a call keyword, as they normally would return a value, so that functions would appear in an assignment. So one just uses the function.

What needed a CALL was a subroutine, which effectively was a named address/label.

Indeed it would be just as possible to GOTO the address/label and then GOTO back. CALL keyword made the whole transaction more comprehensive.

So in a sense it was similar to calling up someplace using the address number. Often times this would change some shared state so that the caller would then proceed after the call. Think of it as if a 'boss' first calls Sam to calculate the figures, then calls Bill to nicely print the TPS report.

Eventually everything became a function and subroutines were associated with spaghetti...

Now, why is that it's called routine (aka program) and subroutine?