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I was reading something on MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) and I saw this and made me confused:

Although variables passed as an out arguments need not be initialized prior to being passed, the calling method is required to assign a value before the method returns.

What I would like to learn whether "calling method" means the method which calls another method or the method which is being called by main method?

If you'd love to see more about the context, you are very welcome to visit this page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t3c3bfhx(v=vs.80).aspx

It is important since it changes the meaning a lot.

And also for more information to me, I would love to learn what it is called in grammar? Gerunds maybe?

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I think this is too localised - it's just a documentation error that's been corrected elsewhere, and is flagged up on the actual page where it occurs. – FumbleFingers Mar 27 '12 at 3:04
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I disagree with the close vote on the grounds that the underlying principle (types of participles) inquired about by the OP in this example is a good principle to be addressed. – Daniel δ Mar 27 '12 at 3:20
I disagree that the principle needs addressing. "Calling" means "calling". It does not mean "called". That's just common knowledge. And the meaning of gerund can be looked up on Wikipedia, which will also immediately point you to the correct term, present participle. – RegDwighт♦ Mar 27 '12 at 12:24

closed as too localized by FumbleFingers, jwpat7, Matt Эллен, Robusto, Will Hunting Mar 27 '12 at 12:36

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1 Answer

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When a verb is made into an adjective like that, it always means that the modified noun (in this case method) is the active party, so calling method means the method which calls. Calling here is an present participle (or verbal adjective), not a gerund. A gerund is a noun:

Calling the boys in was a chore in itself.

Whereas a verbal adjective is, well, an adjective. It modifies a noun:

The calling birds quickly flew away.

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Thanks for the answer. That part confused me because it was opposed to how it is supposed to be. So in the sentence it should have been "called method" to give proper meaning and this mistake is actually mentioned in the user comments down below of the page. – Tarik Mar 27 '12 at 2:56
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So the proper form would have been the passive participial. – Daniel δ Mar 27 '12 at 2:58

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