VBA: Why declare variables in the sub routine?

[hellfire45]

So I have been writing vba for a few years now but something I often see that I never do is declaring variables inside the sub line.

For example:

sub my_routine (strSearch As String, variable2 as long, variable3 as integer)

Why do people do it like this? I would normally do it like.

sub my_routine()

dim strsearch as string
dim variable2 as long
dim variable3 as integer

Are these effectively the same thing? If not, what is the difference?

 

[RoryA]

No, they are not the same. The first one means that you pass values to the routine when you call it, whereas the second one has to set the values of the variables itself.

 

[hellfire45]

No, they are not the same. The first one means that you pass values to the routine when you call it, whereas the second one has to set the values of the variables itself.

So like previously declaring and defining the variables named in the sub line as public in a prior sub routine?