I am so lost. I've rewatched the entire Functions set of videos.

Hi Hannah,

I will break the challenge down in segments.

First, the challenge asks you to make a function, making a function always start with the keywork "function". This way, the javascript interpreter knows you are making a new function. Next, the challenge asks you to name the function "returnValue". In this case, you would write the name exactly after the function keyword. So, so far we have:

function returnValue 

Next, the challenge asks you to give the function a parameter. These are optional, but when provided you can use them later in the function, do something with it if you will. The argument always comes in parentheses after the function name, if you provide one. A function does not necessarily need an argument but for the challenge we need one. I will show in more depth what we do with the argument in breaking down task 2. So, so far, we have:

function returnValue(argument)

I have named the argument simply "argument" in the example but you can name it anything you want.

Next, we open the function with a pair of brackets, this creates the body of the function. Inside, you can declare what you want the function to do. So:

function returnValue(argument {

}

Lastly, for task one, the challenge wants to return the argument you passed to the function immediately. So, inside the function body, we write:

function returnValue(argument) {
return argument;
}

Now, a function is something you make, so you decide what happens inside the function. You can give it any task you want, but in this case, we are just returning the argument we gave it.

Now, for task 2, it wants you to make a new variable called "echo". So, underneath the function we just created:

function returnValue(argument) {
return argument;
}

var echo = 

Then, it wants you to assign the function you just created to the var we are creating and pass in a string as the argument. Now here is where an argument comes in handy. You can skip an argument in a function alltogether if you are making a simple function that would just return a string we could not alter while calling the function. That would look something like this:

function simpleString() {
return "This is a string";
}

As you can see, i left the parentheses empty, so we did not give it an argument but we cannot alter the argument neither. So, when i call the function on the echo var, like this:

var echo = simpleString();

The contents of the echo var will always be the string "This is a string" we just gave it.

But, we made a function with an argument, so we can give it something we want to be stored in the echo var! So, we have:

function returnValue(argument) {
return argument;
}

var echo = returnValue("We are returning a String!");

We used the argument we created earlier to give something to the function while we are calling it. So, the var echo now contains the string "We are returning a String!". But if we would have given it something else, the echo var would have contained that input.

An argument can be named anything you want basically and it will be replaced by anything you give it while calling the function.

Hope i made it a but clear for you!

Elian