Parameter defaults and Optional Function Parameters in Swift 2.0

This post has been updated for Swift 3.0 here.

This post has been updated for Swift 3.0 here.

There are some changes in Swift 2.0 to Optional Function parameters, so I thought I should revisit this blog post.

For info just on function parameters in Swift 2.0, click on my post here.

Swift has an interesting multi-pronged approach to dealing with default and optional function parameters, based in part on its relationship with Objective C and part inspired by other approaches.
It’s worth exploring the options.

Optional function parameters approach 1

First of all, let’s look at one approach to optional parameters:

func printFirstName(firstName:String) {
    print(firstName)
}
func printFirstName(firstName:String,surname:String) {
    print("\(firstName) \(surname)")
}
printFirstName("Joe") //prints Joe
printFirstName("Joe", surname: "Blow") //prints Joe Blow

Wait – there are two functions with the same name? And why is the second function called printFirstName, when it clearly has a parameter called ‘surname’?
Well this is the same approach Objective C took, where the function wasn’t just defined by its name, but its parameters as well. So we have two functions – one is ‘printFirstName(firstName)’ and the other is printFirstName(firstName,surname)

Parameters with default values approach 1

This technique can also be a way to define default parameters, where the function with less parameters can call the function with extra parameters, defining defaults.

func printFirstName(firstName:String) {
    printFirstName(firstName,surname: "Smith")
}
func printFirstName(firstName:String,surname:String) {
    print("\(firstName) \(surname)")
}

printFirstName("Joe")    //prints Joe Smith
printFirstName("Joe", surname: "Blow")    //prints Joe Blow

This technique of optional parameters is consistent with the approach Objective C took and was necessary to include in Swift to be able to interpret underlying Objective C code. (I discussed optional parameters in Objective C in a previous blog post here).

Optional function parameters approach 2

As Swift has an Optional variable type, making a parameter Optional, would obviously make it optional 😉 However this doesn’t mean you don’t need to pass anything – you still need to pass nil, and deal with checking the optional contains something in the function.

func printFirstName(firstName:String,surname:String?) {
    if let surname = surname {
        print("\(firstName) \(surname)")
    } else {
        print(firstName)
    }

}
printFirstName("Joe", surname: nil)    //prints Joe
printFirstName("Joe", surname: "Blow")    //prints Joe Blow

Parameters with default values approach 2

Somewhere along the beta line, the Swift engineers made the brilliant decision to introduce true default values for parameters. Parameters with default values have a few special attributes:

• to be called in a different order, they need to be declared after any parameters without default values
• These parameters with defaults can be left out when calling the function
• If external parameter names are included (the second parameter onwards have external parameter names by default) parameters can be included in any order!

Note: In this example the first parameter specifies an external parameter name so as to be able to called out of order.

func printName(firstName firstName:String="Joe",middleName:String="Andrew",surname:String="Blow") {
    print("\(firstName) \(middleName) \(surname)")
}
printName(firstName: "John", middleName: "Juan", surname: "Smith")    //prints John Juan Smith
printName(firstName: "John")    //middleName and surname parameters left out! prints John Andrew Blow
printName()        //prints all defaults (Joe Andrew Smith)
printName(surname: "Smith", middleName: "Julius", firstName: "John")   //parameters out of order! prints John Julius Smith

Optional function parameters approach 3

Which of course makes it possible for an ‘Optional’ variable to have a nil default value. So with a simple tweak to our previous default values example, we can introduce a true optional parameter, using the Optional type.

func printFirstName(firstName:String,surname:String?=nil) {
    if let surname = surname {
        print("\(firstName) \(surname)")
    } else {
        print(firstName)
    }

}
printFirstName("Joe")    //prints Joe
printFirstName("Joe", surname: "Blow")    //prints Joe Blow

Be careful with naming conflicts mixing these approaches – if you have multiple functions with the same name but different parameters, and one of them has optional parameters, and there’s a possibility that Swift won’t know which function you’re referring to, there’s a naming conflict and the compiler will complain.

Good luck with your Swift functions, hopefully this has been helpful – let us know in comments any other function parameter tips. Swift 2.0 seems to be more forgiving and flexible and allow for some interesting combinations of functions with/without external parameter names and with/without default values.

For info just on function parameters in Swift 2.0, click on my post here.

About craiggrummitt

iOS development with Swift - book: https://manning.com/books/ios-development-with-swift video course: https://www.manning.com/livevideo/ios-development-with-swift-lv