AQA 7517 4.1.1.10: Subroutines (procedures/functions)
The free BugBot lessons that teach this point, a robot to try it on, and the past-paper questions that test it.
What it covers
At GCSE you wrote functions and procedures with parameters and return values (F4.1 and F4.2). A level asks you to explain precisely what a subroutine is and why it helps, to describe its interface, to return more than one value, and to know what happens to an argument when it is passed by value or by reference.
- What a subroutine is
- The interface
- Returning more than one value
- By value and by reference
- What Python does
Or do it in the simulator, with tasks that mark themselves
Lessons that teach it
- A1.4 Subroutines, parameters and passing by reference Programming techniques and object-oriented programming
Out-of-line subroutines and their interfaces, returning several values, and passing by value and by reference. - A1.10 Project: the behaviour controller Programming techniques and object-oriented programming
Get past a wall to the dock with prioritised behaviour classes, a controller that aggregates them, and an exception to finish.
Try it on a robot
The task from A1.4 Subroutines, parameters and passing by reference, running here. Change the program and press Run.
The specification is AQA's own document; this page says which of our lessons teach point 4.1.1.10 and is not endorsed by the board.