Return Type

In computer programming, the return type (or result type) defines and constrains the data type of the value returned from a subroutine or method. In many programming languages (especially statically-typed programming languages such as C, C++, Java) the return type must be explicitly specified when declaring a function.

In the Java example:

public int someMethod

the return type is int. The program can therefore rely on the method returning a value of type int. Various mechanisms are used for the case where a subroutine does not return any value, e.g., a return type of void is used in some programming languages:

public void returnNothing

Famous quotes containing the words return and/or type:

    “To what purpose, April, do you return again?
    Beauty is not enough.”
    —Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)

    “To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else’s type of thinking.”
    —William James (1842–1910)