Default and Optional parameter

[hyousef]

How can I create a function that use:

1. Default parameters
2. Optional arguments.

[masonk]

@hyousef

Default parameters

There is no way to specify default parameter values in Rust, but there is an RFC for it. For now you just have to handle this need ad-hoc in whatever way makes sense for your use case.

@hyousef

Optional arguments.

Take an Option<Foo>.

[OptimisticPeach]

Well, the closest we have to this in rust is Options. Default values:

fn foo(possibly_supplied: Option<usize>) {
    let x = possibly_supplied.unwrap_or(20); //Default value is 20
}

And for optional arguments, the above is the closest thing, except you handle None values differently:

fn foo(optionally_supplied: Option<usize>) {
    if let Some(x) = optionally_supplied {
        // A value
    else {
        // No value
    }
}

Unfortunately, you can't do things like you can in other languages (In this case C#):

public static int Foo(int x = 0) => 20 * x;
public static int Foo() => 10;

[hyousef]

I found this as potential solution, liked to share with the community:

1. for default, use struct and impl Default
2. for optional, use macro.

example:

use std::default::Default;

#[derive(Debug)]
pub struct Sample {
    a: u32,
    b: u32,
    c: u32,
}

impl Default for Sample {
    fn default() -> Self {
        Sample { a: 2, b: 4, c: 6}
    }
}

macro_rules! five_times {
    ($x:expr) => (5 * $x);
    () => (5);
}

fn main() {
    let s = Sample { c: 23, .. Sample::default() };
    println!("{:?} {:?}", s, five_times!());
    
}