Chapter 6. Using Functions and Objects

This chapter is about modularizing code through the use of functions and objects.

We have already encountered a lot of built-in functions, such as print and cd, but of course you can write user-defined functions as well. When a program's code gets longer and more complex, you want to be able to give a name to certain code segments. For example, when processing a data stream from a file or the network, you'll want to have a process-request or process-record function that contains the logic of dealing with one chunk of data. That way, you can call this function each time you need it. This leads to less code that is better structured and more readable. Less code means fewer bugs! Functions can take parameters, local variables, and refinements, and we'll be exploring how to use these later on in the chapter.

Another way to group code is to define an object. Red is not class-based, like most object-oriented languages in common use today, such as Java, Python...