# Introduction to Methods: an overview

A method is a named block of reusable code; you've been calling them since your first program.

Novice · C# · Updated November 3, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Explain what a method is and why programs are split into methods

## Key takeaways

- A method is a named block of code that does one job. You write it once and call it by name whenever you need that job done.
- `Console.WriteLine`, `Math.Round` and `int.Parse` are methods. To use one, you only need its name, what to give it and what it gives back.
- Other languages say function; in C# every function belongs to a class or the program, so it's called a method.
- When you catch yourself copying the same lines, put them in a method instead. That's DRY, Don't Repeat Yourself, and it leaves one place to fix.

A **method** is a named block of code that does one job. You write it once, give it a name, and then run it, or **call** it, by that name whenever you need the job done.

As you write programs, you'll notice that you often write the same lines of code again, or copy and paste them. That's a sign there's a repeatable pattern, and a method is how you capture it: instead of copying the lines, you put them in a method and call it.

## You've already used methods

Every program you've written so far calls methods that someone else wrote:

```csharp
Console.WriteLine("Rounding 7.6:");
Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(7.6));
Console.WriteLine(int.Parse("42") + 1);
```

```text
Rounding 7.6:
8
43
```

- `Console.WriteLine` writes a line in the terminal.
- `Math.Round` takes a number and gives back the nearest whole number.
- `int.Parse` takes text and gives back an `int`.

Each one does one job, and you didn't need to know *how* it does it. You only needed its name, what to give it, and what it gives back. In this chapter you'll write methods of your own that work the same way.

## Method or function?

Other languages call these **functions**. In C#, every function belongs to something larger: a class, or the program itself. A function that belongs to something is called a **method**, so C# developers say *method*. When you read about functions in JavaScript or Python, it's the same idea.

## Why split a program into methods?

- **No repeated code.** Write the steps once, call them many times. Developers call this **DRY**: *Don't Repeat Yourself*.
- **One place to fix.** When the steps change, you change them in one method, not in every copy.
- **Code that explains itself.** A call like `DisplayTeamScores(...)` says what happens; the details live inside the method.
- **Smaller pieces.** A long program is easier to understand, test and debug as a set of small methods, each doing one thing.

## Check yourself

1 question to try on the lesson page.

## So what

Methods are how programs grow without becoming a tangle: each job gets a name and a single home. The next lessons show the problem they solve, then how to write your own.

## Key terms

- [Method](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/method-c-sharp)
- [DRY Principle](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/dry-principle)

## Cheat sheets

- [Introduction to Methods: an overview](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/introduction-to-methods-an-overview-cheat-sheet)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/introduction-to-methods-an-overview