Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:
>
> On Mon, Aug 14, 2000 at 09:40:07PM -0500, David L. Nicol wrote:
> > Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:
> > >
> > > > context-based method overloading
> > >
> > > I think you should s/method/subroutine/ everywhere in this document.
> > > What you say of methods is equally as true of ordinary subroutines.
> >
> > Hmm.
> >
> > They're nearly synonymous.
>
> Nearly but not. "methods" are always used in an object oriented
> context. You don't hear the C folk talk about "methods" in C do you?
> But you hear those C++ folk talk about them all the time. :-)
>
> So I would argue that "subroutine" is the more general form of
> "method" as it includes the non-OO versions as well as the OO
> versions.
>
> Just MHO,
>
> -Scott
The difference is one of use, not one of meaning. Why not extend
"method" to be any subroutine, just as we have apparently extended
"subroutine" to include "function" by not acknowledging any
distinction there either?
