What some use cases for this methods of passing arguments?

Question

I dont see myself using any other this method but the passby. If I need to pass out values out of a method, why not just use the return keyword?

Answer 1

return is not related to passing arguments, so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

I can give you some examples, but if you really just practice you'll be using them all the time.

int add(int a, int b){
return a + b;
}

int a and b are what we pass as arguments.
Now we can just call add(int, int) to always add together those 2 numbers.

You use these all the time.
Ex/ Console.Write() accepts arguments, printing them to the console. Anything that's a method where you put something in the parenthesis is passing something as arguments.

void print(string msg){
Console.WriteLine(msg);
}

Now whenever we call print(string) whatever our message is will be printed.
print("Test");
Output:
Test

Answer 2

https://code.sololearn.com/cX73VP0vlmGI

it is a matter of style. I mostly use return as method to pass results. But in more complex situation you want to use ref.

I could image reading a record form a database.
using a bool to confirm that the action is executed succesfully
and return the the record in the ref-parameter.

Answer 3

Oh, he meant passing references?

The problem is in order to pass a reference you already need a reference. When I'm just returning I don't need anything, I can just use it as a value.

Example:

Console.WriteLine(double(2));

int double(int a){
return a*2;
}

Or

int a = 2;
double(ref 2);
WriteLine(a);

void double(ref int a){
a *= 2;
}

Why create an int if I don't need to?

Answer 4

True. I did it for demonstrating the system. It is not usefull in my code. ref could be usefull in more complex situation or when returning multiple parameters.I do no use it a lot.

Answer 5

Thanks for the answer guys. The answers clarified my question a bit.