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Process vs Function - What's the difference?

process | function |

Process is a synonym of function.



In computing terms the difference between function and process

is that function is a routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result while process is a task or program that is or was executing.

In biology terms the difference between function and process

is that function is the physiological activity of an organ or body part while process is an outgrowth of tissue or cell.

As nouns the difference between function and process

is that function is what something does or is used for while process is a series of events to produce a result, especially as contrasted to product.

As verbs the difference between function and process

is that function is to have a function while process is to perform a particular process.

process

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl)

Noun

(es)
  • A series of events to produce a result, especially as contrasted to product.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 27, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Bayern Munich 2-0 Man City , passage=But they came up against an impressive force in Bayern, who extended their run to 10 wins on the trot, having scored 28 goals in the process and conceding none.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= T time , passage=Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.}}
    This product of last month's quality standards committee is quite good, even though the process was flawed.
  • (legal) The act of serving a defendant with a summons or a writ.
  • (biology) An outgrowth of tissue or cell.
  • (anatomy) A structure that arises above a surface.
  • (computing) A task or program that is or was executing.
  • (manufacturing) A set of procedures used to produce a product, most commonly in the food and chemical industries.
  • * 1960', Mack Tyner, '''''Process''' Engineering Calculations: Material and Energy Balances'' - Ordinarily a '''process''' plant will use a steam boiler to supply its ' process heat requirements and to drive a steam-turbine generator.
  • * 1987', J. R. Richards, ''Principles of control system design'' in ''Modelling and control of fermentation '''process'''es'' - The words ''plant'' or '''''process''''' infer generally any dynamic system, be it primarily mechanical, electrical, or chemical ' process in nature, and may extend also to include social or economic systems.
  • A path of succession of states through which a system passes.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Robert L. Dorit , title=Rereading Darwin , volume=100, issue=1, page=23 , magazine= citation , passage=We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.}}
  • (lb) Successive physiological responses to keep or restore health.
    • Derived terms
    * due process * due process of law * due-process * process color, process colour * process hot water * process server * process upset
    Related terms
    * proceed * procedure

    Verb

    (es)
  • To perform a particular process.
    • We have processed the data using our proven techniques, and have come to the following conclusions.
  • To treat with a substance
  • To think an information over, or a concept, in order to assimilate it, and perhaps accept it as valid.

    • Etymology 2

    Verb

    (es)
  • (mostly British) To walk in a procession.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    function

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • What something does or is used for.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
    • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions , which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.}}
  • A professional or official position.
  • (senseid)An official or social occasion.
  • A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance.
  • (mathematics) A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain.
  • (computing) A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result.
  • (biology) The physiological activity of an organ or body part.
  • (chemistry) The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound.
  • (anthropology) The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group.

    • Synonyms

    * (what something does or is used for) aim, intention, purpose, role, use * (professional or official position) occupation, office, part, role * (official or social occasion) affair, occasion, social occasion, social function * many-to-one map, many-to-one mapping, mathematical function, operation, transformation * procedure, routine, subprogram, subroutine

    Hypernyms

    * (mathematics) relation

    Related terms

    * (l) * (l)

    Derived terms

    * absolutely continuous function * acidity function * adaptive-control function * additive function * additive set function * adjoint wave function * aggregate function * Airy function * Airy stress function * algebraic function * almost-periodic function * alternating function * analytic function * analytical function generator * anatomy of function * antihyperbolic function * antisymmetric wave function * antisymmetrized wave function * antitrigonometric function * arc-hyperbolic function * autocorrelation function * Baire function * bei function * ber function * Bessel function * beta function * bifunctional * biharmonic function * Bloch function * Boolean function * Borel measurable function * bounded function * boxcar function * Brillouin function * built-in function * Cantor function * characteristic function * circular function * cofunction * comparable function * complementary function * complete class of decision function * composite function * compressadensity function * computable function * concave function * confluent hypergeometric function * conjugate convex function * connect function * constant function * constraint function * contiguous function * continuous function * convex function * cosine function * cost function * countably additive set function * countably subadditive set function * critical function * cross-correlation function * cyclosymmetric function * cylinder function * decreasing function * delta function * density function * describing function * differentiable function * difunctional * digamma function * diode function generator * Dirac wave function * discriminant function * disfunction * dissipation function * driving-point function * dysfunction * effectively computable function * eigenfunction * eigenfunction expansion * Einstein partition function * electron wave function * electronic work function * elementary function * elementary symmetric function * elliptic function * Emden function * entire function * equivalent propositional function * error function * essentially bounded function * Euler's phi function * even function * excitation function * executive ego function * explicit function * exponential density function * exponential function * exponential generating function * feedback transfer function * Fermi-Dirac distribution function * form function * forward transfer function * Fowler function * frontogenetic function * function code * function failure safety * function generator * function key * function multiplier * function object * function space * function switch * function table * function unit * function-evaluation routine * functional * functionalism * functionality * gamma function * general-purpose function generator * generalized transmission function * generating function * Green's function * Hamiltonian function * Hammett acidity function * Hankel function * harmonic function * Heaviside unit function * hei function * her function * Hildebrand function * homogeneous function * Hugoniot function * hybrid wave function * hyperbolic function * hypergeometric function * identity function * implicit function * implicit function theorem * impulse function * incidence function * incomplete beta function * incomplete gamma function * increasing function * independent function * influence function * information function of a partition * initial mass function * inner function * integrable function * integral function * invariant function * inverse function * inverse function theorem * inverse hyperbolic function * inverse trigonometric function * inverting function * J function * Jacobian elliptic function * jump function * kei function * ker function * Koebe function * Lagrange stream function * Lagrangian function * * * Langevin function * left-continuous function * Legendre function * Leverett function * line function * linear discriminant function * linear function * Liouville function * locally integrable function * logarithmic trigonometric function * logarithmically convex function * loop transfer function * loss function * lower semicontinuous function * luminosity function * Lyapunov function * malfunction * malfunction routine * Massieu function * mathematical function program * Mathieu function * Maxwell's stress function * measurable function * membership function * meromorphic function * microspec function * minimal brain dysfunction syndrome * Minkowski distance function * * modified Bessel function * modified Hankel function * moment generating function * momentum wave function * monofunctional compound * monogenic analytic function * monotone function * monotone nondecreasing function * monotone nonincreasing function * monotonic increasing function * Morera's stress function * multifunction array radar * multilinear function * multiplicative number-theoretic function * natural function * Neumann function * nonfunctional packages software * normal density function * normalized function * normalized support function * NOT function * nuclear response function * number-theoretic function * objective function * odd function * optimizing control function * orthogonal function * orthonormal function * parabolic cylinder function * partial function * partial recursive function * particle distribution function * partition function * Patterson function * penalty function * periodic function * phase function * piecewise-continuous function * Planck function * point characteristic function * point function * Poisson density function * polynomial function * positive linear functional * positive real function * power function * predefined function * principal function * probability density function * probability mass function * programmed function key * proper rational function * propositional function * psi function * pulsed transfer function * quadratic function * Rademacher function * radial distribution function * radicofunctional name * random function * rational function * Rayleigh's dissipation function * real-valued function * recursive function * regular function * regulatory control function * restricted function * Riccati-Bessel function * Riemann function * Riemann P function * Riemann zeta function * sample function * scalar function * scattering function * * self-dual switching function * self-organizing function * sensitivity function * separated-function synchrotron * set function * sharpness function technique * shear-viscosity function * sigma function * simple function * simply periodic function * single-valued function * sinusoidal function * skewed density function * Smarandache function * source function * special function * spectral function * spherical Bessel function * staff function * step function * step-function generator * Stokes stream function * stress function * subadditive function * subadditive set function * subfunction * subfunctional * subharmonic function * subsine function * summable function * superadditive function * superharmonic function * support function * switch function * switching function * symmetric function * tapped-potentiometer function generator * test function * tetrafunctional molecule * thermionic work function * thermodynamic function of state * theta function * tool-function controller * torsion function * transcendental function * transfer function * transition function * transmission function * trigamma function * trigonometric cofunction * trigonometric function * truth function * Turing computable function * universal transmission function * universal wavelength function * upper semicontinuous function * user-defined function * variable diode function generator * vector function * viscous dissipation function * wave function * Wannier function * Weierstrass function * Weierstrassian elliptic function * weight function * work function

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to have a function
  • to carry on a function; to be in action

    • Synonyms

    * (to have a function) officiate, serve * (to carry on a function) go, operate, run, work

    Antonyms

    * (to carry on a function) malfunction

    Related terms

    * functional * dysfunction, dysfunctional