User-defined tasks and functions are used extensively in behavioral Verilog. They encapsulate blocks of sequential statements and are invoked from within the module. Additionally, arguments can be passed and exchanged through these calls. Though VHDL has equivalent procedures known as `Subprograms', they differ from Verilog tasks and functions in the following ways:

To execute a signal assignment in a VHDL subprogram, it is necessary for the signal to be available in the list of interface elements of the subprogram. This is not a requirement in Verilog. Hence, Verilog2VHDL adds signals that are driven from within a Verilog task or function as interface elements to the corresponding VHDL subprogram.
In VHDL, it is not possible to read a signal inside a subprogram if it is an interface element of the subprogram of mode `OUT'. For this reason, an intermediate temporary signal is created in the VHDL architecture.