syntax is heck

[Raoul Duke]

has anybody come up with the ultimate best (least bad?) syntax for
when there are optional arguments, and default values? taking into
consideration potential overloading? like, what would be the safest
most clear most unambiguous most internally consistent design?

positional arguments with no names at the call site are clearly
unacceptably bad it seems to me.

named arguments are better. (i like them even w/out it being about optionality.)

named arguments: should ordering be involved in any way?

e.g. python kwargs has gone through all sorts of revisions and every
step of the way has had terrible dx problems it seems to me.

[Mike Austin]

C# has named and optional arguments and is feels sane.

anExample.ExampleMethod(3, optionalint: 4);

You can name all the parameters in calls if you like, but it can become overwhelming like Objective-C.

In JavaScript you'll see the .exampleMethod(3, { optionalint: 4 }) pattern used often, where the last object is optional named values.

The worst case without named arguments is foo(3, true). But then IDSs these days can insert the parameter name without actually having in the source.