Convenience function
Encyclopedia
A convenience function is a non-essential subroutine
in a programming library or framework
which is intended to ease commonly-performed tasks. These convenience functions may be added arbitrarily based on the creator's perception of what these menial tasks will be, or they may be the result of a process of refactoring by the developers and community feedback on what could be made into a convenience function. A convenience function's task may almost always be expressed in terms of other operations, though this will likely have increased verbiage and reduced abstraction
and possibly maintainability. From this perspective, any programming language
above assembly language
is a 'convenience language' to avoid writing machine code
.
Subroutine
In computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....
in a programming library or framework
Software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software providing generic functionality can be selectively changed by user code, thus providing application specific software...
which is intended to ease commonly-performed tasks. These convenience functions may be added arbitrarily based on the creator's perception of what these menial tasks will be, or they may be the result of a process of refactoring by the developers and community feedback on what could be made into a convenience function. A convenience function's task may almost always be expressed in terms of other operations, though this will likely have increased verbiage and reduced abstraction
Abstraction (computer science)
In computer science, abstraction is the process by which data and programs are defined with a representation similar to its pictorial meaning as rooted in the more complex realm of human life and language with their higher need of summarization and categorization , while hiding away the...
and possibly maintainability. From this perspective, any programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
above assembly language
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
is a 'convenience language' to avoid writing machine code
Machine code
Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Each instruction performs a very specific task, typically either an operation on a unit of data Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions...
.