What does "void" mean when in front of...

Questions & Answers
1

What does “void” mean when in front of “Update ()” or “Start ()”

In doing some online C# searches, I see the following:
VOID = Keyword used to indicate that a method does not return a value.

But I don’t really understand what that definition actually means.

I’m learning as I go, and saw that the “mouselook” script from Unity uses the “void” in froth of both Update and Start, but I’m not sure what the implications are. I hate asking what is probably such a simple question here, but I haven’t been able to find any information online that actually helps me understand.

2

In most programming languages, functions typically “return” a value. So you might have the function:

float add(float a, float b) { return a + b;}

It’s a super simplistic example but you must have the return so that later on you can say something like:

float c = add(5.5, 7.7);

“void” just means the function doesn’t return any useable value. It’s common when you want the function to perform some action.

3

Void means that the function won’t return a value to anything outside from within its own function. Otherwise you’d type “return Value” when the function should return something that has called the function. Update and Start are already predefined functions by the system and have predefined behaviors, returning values is something you can do within your own functions.

function myFunction (incoming) {
//Do something with incoming
return outgoing;
}
4

Thanks for your help…I think what was confusing me was that I didn’t realize I was switching between C# and Javascript…I had been doing a lot of my first tutorials in Javascript, where there is no “void” (it seems). Then, this morning, I started a new tutorial that had me using C#, and the whole “void” thing was new to me, and I thought it was somehow different functionality…but I see it is just the difference between Javascript and C#. Thanks again!