Function Calls

One important kind of expression is the function call. A <function_call> has one of the following forms:

<operand> { <argument> }+      -- one or more arguments

<operand> ()      -- no arguments

in which, <argument> is one of:

<operand>

<name>: <operand>      -- keyword argument

Examples:

sin a

tan2 x y

print (n + 1) to:debug

fns[i] $box01      -- get function out of a table

move object1 [10,20,x * 3]

box height:20 width:40

This syntax is unlike most programming languages which typically use parenthesized lists of comma-separated arguments. It was chosen for MAXScript for the following reasons:

• It is simpler and easier to use, particularly if a function has many optional keyword arguments.
• The language is used in a command-line window within MAX, and so this form is similar to other command or shell languages that users might be familiar with.

See the following topics for more information about function calls:

Positional and Keyword Arguments

Precedence

Code Layout

Calling Built-In Functions