From: paul <pjvleeuwen@...>
Date: 2006-12-06T23:05:05+09:00
Subject: Default values for method arguments

Hi all,

Probably I'm trying something impossible, but when giving default
values for arguments to a method call, do I have to give default-values
for *all* arguments?

   irb(main):001:0> class A
   irb(main):002:1>   def a(b = 0, c, d = '', e)
   irb(main):003:2>     puts b, c, d, e
   irb(main):004:2>   end
   irb(main):005:1> end
   SyntaxError: compile error
   (irb):2: syntax error
     def a(b = 0, c, d = '', e)
                    ^
   (irb):2: syntax error
   (irb):5: syntax error
           from (irb):5

And also when giving default-values to all arguments, omitting
arguments when calling the method doesn't seem to be a succes:

   irb(main):001:0> class B
   irb(main):002:1>   def b(c = 0, d = 1, e = 2)
   irb(main):003:2>     puts c, d, e
   irb(main):004:2>   end
   irb(main):005:1> end
   => nil
   irb(main):006:0> B.new.b(1,2,3)
   1
   2
   3
   => nil
   irb(main):007:0> B.new.b(1,,3)
   SyntaxError: compile error
   (irb):7: syntax error
   B.new.b(1,,3)
              ^
           from (irb):7

Is it impossible or I'm I just coding it wrong?

Cheers,
Paul