Have I misunderstood the return line?

Question

I have been using this thinking it passed the result of variable manipulation in a function back to the main code. So if I generate a die roll in a function, I have done something like this:

DieRoll ()
{
Die= 1 + rand() %6;
return Die;
}

and if I have not done any variable manipulation, I have used a Void function. Reading back through the lessons on this app, I don't think this is right!

So what is the return 0 actually for? And when would I need a Void Function?

Thank you.

Answer 1

You use a void function when you don't need to return anything back to the caller.

void speak()
{
std::cout << "Something.";
}

// which can be called in main as speak();

For a dice roll, you will want to return an integer value back to the caller.

int roll()
{
return 1+ rand() % 6;
}

int main()
{
std::cout << roll();
return 0;
}

Answer 2

int count=0;

void printOut(what) {
printf("Line %d: %s\n", count++, what);

// why return a printf status?
// also, you can see count outside
}

By convention, returning 0 means success.

*** By the way, mod can unbalance rand() ... just something to know:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10984974/why-do-people-say-there-is-modulo-bias-when-using-a-random-number-generator