Chapter 16
Overloading and default parms

16.1 Introduction

This is another relaxing chapter, with two fun rules that let you reuse the same function name: default parameters and overloading.

They can make it look like the same function takes all sorts of different inputs, so you can use these tricks to write an A so that A(3);, A("goat"); and A(3,6); are all legal.

But they’re just shortcuts and tricks. They don’t change the way functions really work.

16.2 Default parameters

A default parameter is a shortcut that lets the computer auto-fill parameters in some function calls. Here’s an example of my old setPos function using them. The only new thing (which I haven’t explained yet) are the extra two =’s in the heading:

void setPos(float x=0, float y=0) {  
  transform.position = new Vector3(x, y, 0);  
}

The first thing to know is if we call it the normal way, like setPos(5,2); it runs the normal way. Those two =’s will do nothing, like they weren’t even there.

The new rule is that if the function has an equals-something after a parameter, we can leave it out of the function call. The computer will fill in that value. setPos(4); matches 4 to x and fills in 0 for y. It’s a shortcut for setPos(4, 0);.

setPos(); fills in 0 for x and 0 for y. It’s a shortcut for setPos(0, 0);

The other important thing to understand is that it makes no difference in how the function works. setPos(3); and setPos(3, 0); are 100% the same thing to the computer. Both ways, y is 0 and the computer doesn’t care how it got that way.

Here’s another silly example with strings, showing how some parameters can have defaults, while others don’t:

string adventure1(string name, string ani="dog", string place="park") {  
  string w = name+" and a "+ani+" played in the "+place;  
  return w;  
}

This says if you leave out the last input, place, it fills it in with "park". If you leave out the last two inputs, it also fills in animal with "dog". But you have to always give one input, name, since it has no default. An example of every way to call it:

// calls:  
string a = adventure1("Al", "ox", "bog"); // Al and a ox played in the bog  
a = adventure1("Bev", "fish"); // Bev and a fish played in the park  
a = adventure1("Carl"); // Carl and a dog played in the park  
a = adventure(); // ERROR

There are two ways we usually use them. One is to add a very, very optional extra input. For example:

void setPos(float x, float y, float z=0) {  
  transform.position = new Vector3(x, y, z);  
}

In our minds, this is a 2-input function. x and y are all we change most of the time. But in the oddball case when we need to, we can throw in a value for z, like setPos(-7,4,1).

The other way to see it is as a shortcut for a common value. Suppose my cube game often has y near the top, at y=4. We might write void setPos(float x, float y=4). In our minds, this is still a 2-input function, but sometimes we’ll write setPos(-7); as a shortcut for “the usual height”. Even if we never do that, we still have a nice built-in reminder that the normal y is 4.

Built-in functions use lots of default parameters. The Unity spin command has a default 4th input which no one ever uses:

void Rotate(float xAng, float yAng, float zAng, Space relativeTo=Space.Self)

The fourth input has a default parameter, which means we can ignore it. Rotate(0,90,0) is legal. This is a case where it’s telling us that if we know about rotation spaces, we can pick one. Otherwise the one it gives us is just fine.

But the fourth input is fun to look at. It’s an enumerated type. We can look it up. It’s enum Space {Self, World};. In the 4th input, Space relativeTo=Space.Self, the type is Space, which is really an int that can be 0 or 1. 0 stands for Self and 1 stands for World. Altogether it means we normally rotate in Self space, but can optionally use World space. For example Rotate(0,90,0,Space.World).

If you try this, the real command has the word transform in front:
transform.Rotate(0,90,0);.

Errors

As usual, inputs are matched left to right exactly in order – it won’t skip any to try to make things work. Suppose we have this:

void A(string w="cow", int x=0) { ... }

You don’t have to give this any inputs, but if you do, the first one has to be a string, for w. A(3); tries to put 3 into w and can’t. It gives you the odd error No overload for method ‘A’ takes ‘1’ arguments

Because of the left-to-right, no-skipping rule, default parameters have to start from the right. This next function is illegal. It tells you Optional parameter cannot precede required parameters:

void A(string w="cow", int y) { ... } // ERROR

The problem is that you have to give it y, since it has no default, which means you also have to give it w. There’s no way to make it ever fill in cow automatically.

16.3 overloading

You’re allowed to reuse a function name if the parameters are different. This is called overloading. That’s the entire rule. The rest of this is just examples and how we usually use that trick.

A different number of inputs lets you reuse the name. For example, we can make a 2 and a 3 input max:

 float max(float a, float b) { if(a>b) return a; else return b; }  
 
 float max(float a, float b, float c) {  
   if(a>b && a>c) return a;  
   if(b>c) return b;  
   return c;  
 }  
 

They’re still two completely different functions. But if we type max( the pop-up shows us both, making it look like there are two versions of max.

Different types also let us overload a name. For example we can write another version of max with 2 inputs, but both are int’s:

 int max(int a, int b) { if(a>b) return a; else return b; }  
 

This lets us write int n=max(5, 2); without a cannot-convert error. It runs the int version. But it’s still nothing special – we have three completely different functions which happen to share a name.

Here’s a silly overloading example that shows the rules:

void silly(float x) { print( "A" ); }  
void silly(string w) { print( "B" ); }  
 
silly(1.2f); // A  
silly(""); // B  
silly(4); // A (4 can turn into a float, but not a string)  
 

In Unity our old Random.Range is overloaded. An int version gives whole numbers, like rolling a die:

// int version, since inputs are ints:  
int n = Random.Range(1,4); // random 1, 2 or 3  
// it rolls 1 less than the maximum, just because  
 
// old float version. Could roll 1.653 or 3.983  
float f = Random.Range(1.0f, 4.0f);

The same as before, these are 2 completely different functions. It just feels like 2 versions of Random.Range. They could have named the second one RangeInt, but most people think it’s nicer to type Random.Range( and look through the options.

The full rules for overloading are complicated. For example Random.Range(2, 5.0f); has one int and one float. It runs the float version since it’s closer. And if you write float f=Random.Range(1,4); it runs the int version. There are more rules than that, but if you need them it probably means you’ve gone a little too nuts on overloading.

16.4 Style

Overloading and default parameters are often combined to make it look like we have one very flexible function. When you type a function name and see the little “1 out of 4” indicator, you can arrow down to see the overloads or versions with and without default parameters.

Here’s an example of where it feels like we have 4 options for setColor, but it’s actually 3 different functions, one of them using a default parm:

void setCol(float r, float g, float b) {  
  GetComponent<Renderer>().material.color = new Color(r,g,b);  
}  
 
void setCol(float greyScale) {  
  setCol(greyScale, greyScale, greyScale); // call 1st version  
}  
 
void setCol(string colName, float bright=1.0f) {  
  float r=0, g=0, b=0;  
  if(colName=="red") r=1;  
  else if(colName=="yellow") { r=1; g=1; }  
  else if(colName=="purple") { r=1; b=1; }  
  ...  
  r*=bright; g*=bright; b*=bright;  
  setCol(r,g,b); // calling 1st version  
}

The pop-up for setCol will show us these:

setCol(float r, float g, float b)  
setCol(float greyScale)  
setCol(string colName); // <- bright filled in with 1  
setCol(string colName, float bright);

Before we had overloading, we gave functions slightly different names like max2f, max3f for 2 and 3 float max functions, and max2i for the int version. That was fine. You can still do that. But today almost every computer language has overloading.

Using overloads has zero effect on the final program, since the compiler takes care of them. It checks the inputs and figures out which one to use, baking that into the compiled code. In fact, it secretly gives them all different names.