8. Reflecting...

Things we learned about using parameters with methods:

1. With parameters, you can have a single piece of code (the method body) that works on a different actor or character every time it is called - depending on the character that is passed into the method when it is called.
2. So - this way of using methods lets many different characters "act the same" - hence the name of this module. Every call to the method can specify a different character.
3. The important aspects of using methods in this way are:
   • Think up the general action you want to be repeated by different characters
   • Add a parameter to the method when you create it
   • When you specify the general action in the body of the method, it should be working on the parameter you specified for the method
   • When you call the method, you pass a parameter value to the method - you specify a value that will take the place of the parameter in your method code. This is where you specialize the general action to a particular actor

So, we have seen another example of reuse, more powerful than before. In the last module, we saw how we could reuse a method to do the same thing many times. Now we can reuse a method to do many different things. We will explore this important aspect further in the next module.

Sample questions you should be able to answer after this module:

[Q4.8.1]: How would we describe the following instruction in English computer speak?

[Q4.8.2]: If you added a new, 7th character in our dance world, would you need to create a new method to get him to dance?

[Q4.8.3]: If I have a frog object in our world and I want him to dance, what statement would I write to make that happen?

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