Java, A Beginner's Guide, 5th Edition, 5th Edition

Returning a Value

Although methods with a return type of void are not rare, most methods will return a value. In fact, the ability to return a value is one of the most useful features of a method. You have already seen one example of a return value: when we used the sqrt( ) function to obtain a square root.

Return values are used for a variety of purposes in programming. In some cases, such as with sqrt( ), the return value contains the outcome of some calculation. In other cases, the return value may simply indicate success or failure. In still others, it may contain a status code. Whatever the purpose, using method return values is an integral part of Java programming.

Methods return a value to the calling routine using this form of return ...