What code should be put in a function?

Paul Hudson    @twostraws    May 28th 2020

Updated for Xcode 14.2

Functions are designed to let us re-use code easily, which means we don’t have to copy and paste code to get common behaviors. You could use them very rarely if you wanted, but honestly there’s no point – they are wonderful tools for helping us write clearer, more flexible code.

There are three times you’ll want to create your own functions:

1. The most common time is when you want the same functionality in many places. Using a function here means you can change one piece of code and have everywhere that uses your function get updated.
2. Functions are also useful for breaking up code. If you have one long function it can be hard to follow everything that’s going on, but if you break it up into three or four smaller functions then it becomes easier to follow.
3. The last reason is more advanced: Swift lets us build new functions out of existing functions, which is a technique called function composition. By splitting your work into multiple small functions, function composition lets us build big functions by combining those small functions in various ways, a bit like Lego bricks.

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