How to explain callbacks in plain english? How are they different from calling one function from another function?

Question

How to explain callbacks in plain English? How are they different from calling one function from another function taking some context from the calling function? How can thei

Answer 1

Callbacks are most easily described in terms of the telephone system. A function call is analogous to calling someone on a telephone, asking her a question, getting an answer, and hanging up; adding a callback changes the analogy so that after asking her a question, you also give her your name and number so she can call you back with the answer. -- Paul Jakubik , "Callback Implementations in C++"