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subroutine

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.

A group of instructions that perform a specific task. A large subroutine might be called a "module" or "procedure." Subroutine is somewhat of a dated term, but it is still quite valid.

(programming)subroutine - (Or "procedure") A sequence of instructions for performing a particular task. Most programming languages, including most machine languages, allow the programmer to define subroutines. This allows the subroutine code to be called from multiple places, even from within itself (in which case it is called recursive). The programming language implementation takes care of returning control to (just after) the calling location, usually with the support of call and return instructions at machine language level.

Most languages also allow arguments to be passed to the subroutine, and one, or occasionally more, return values to be passed back.

A function is often very similar to a subroutine, the main difference being that it is called chiefly for its return value, rather than for any side effects.
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Subroutines have to be written in those general-purpose tools, while those same subroutines and more are already set up in the material/process-specific tools.
Match analysis with materials: material characteristics and ... by Gould, Lawrence S. / Automotive Design & Production
Because of their regular arrangement, the list of neighboring cells is fixed and may be precomputed once and for all at the beginning of the program (in subroutine MAPS).
Simulation of sheared suspensions with a parallel implementation of ... by Martys, Nicos / Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
In a Web application, for example, it might mean designing a subroutine to check the value of parameters passed to the server from the client browser.
Making sensible investments in security by Gossels, Jonathan / Financial Executive
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