(CBN) (Normal order reduction, leftmost, outermost reduction). An argument passing convention (first provided by ALGOL 60?) where argument expressions are passed unevaluATed. This is usually implemented by passing a pointer to some code which will return the value of the argument and an environment giving the values of its free variables. This {evaluATion strATegy} is guaranteed to reach a {normal form} if one exists. When used to implement functional programming languages, call-by-name is usually combined with graph reduction to avoid repeATed evaluATion of the same expression. This is then known as call-by-need. The opposite of call-by-name is call-by-value where arguments are evaluATed before they are passed to a function. This is more efficient but is less likely to terminATe in the presence of infinite dATa structures and recursive functions. Arguments to macros are usually passed using call-by-name. (1994-11-29)