PROPOSAL: Named method parameters (works best in conjunction with default values)

[Eric Raymond]

Named parameters work best if they are combined with default values for 
parameters. With defaults, there is no requirement to supply every 
parameter defined (which can be a burden as the number of arguments 
increase).

For example with the following example, both param1 and param2 need to 
be supplied:

   public void foo(String param1, int param2) ....
    
   foo(param1: "123", param2: 4); // OK
   foo(param1: "123"); // Not OK
   foo(param2: 4); // Not OK



With default values, the caller can simply pick and choose the 
parameters which are of interest (and ignore the other parameters).

   public void foo(String param1 = null , int param2 = 0) ....


   foo(param1: "123", param2: 4); // OK
   foo(param1: "123"); // OK, param2 is 0
   foo(param2: 4); // OK, param1 is null