Named arguments: C# vs Python

Question

Both C# and Python allow named arguments, so you can write something like: foo(bar:1). This is great, especially in combination with optional arguments.

My question is: what are the differences between the C# and Python named arguments, if any? I'm not interested in which is the "best", but in whether there are differences and in the possible motivations behind these differences.

And if someone knows of differences with other languages' implementations of this feature (Ruby or Objective-C, maybe), that could be interesting too.

edited to make community-wiki

To what end is this question? I think that if there isn't a sufficient background, this question could get subjective... — Frank V
– Frank V, Commented Feb 2, 2010 at 21:48

John La Rooy · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-02 21:49:37Z

6

Python lets you "catch" unspecified named arguments into a dict, which is pretty handy

>>> def f(**kw):
...     print kw
... 
>>> f(size=3, sides=6, name="hexagon")
{'sides': 6, 'name': 'hexagon', 'size': 3}

answered Feb 2, 2010 at 21:49

John La Rooy

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2 revs, 2 users 97% · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-02 23:05:50Z

5

Python not only lets you catch unspecified named arguments into a dict, but also lets you unpack a dict into arguments:

    >>> def f(alfa, beta, gamma):
    ...     print alfa, beta, gamma
    ...
    >>> f(**{'alfa': 1, 'beta': 2, 'gamma': 3})
    1 2 3

and pass them down the stream:

    >>> def g(**kwargs):
    ...     f(**kwargs)
    ...
    >>> g(**{'alfa': 1, 'beta': 2, 'gamma': 3})
    1 2 3

edited Feb 2, 2010 at 23:05

community wiki

2 revs, 2 users 97%
Tomasz Zielinski

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