[Python-ideas] Python Users Aren't Perfect

[Masklinn]

On 2011-12-16, at 06:50 , Greg Ewing wrote:
> Ned Batchelder wrote:
>> Finish that foo function definition: it will *have* to have  "for a in args:"
> 
> Not necessarily. It might be something like this:
> 
>   def foo(*args):
>      if len(args) == 2:
>         x, y = args
>         fizzle2d(x, y)
>      else:
>         x, y, z = args
>         fizzle3d(x, y, z)
> 
> In other words, it might be what is effectively an
> overloaded function with a number of different possible
> calling signatures. Once you've decided which signature
> is being invoked, each member of the argument tuple
> takes on a specific role.
Is that really used instead of optional arguments with a placeholder value e.g.

    def foo(x, y, z=None):
        if z is None:
            fizzle2d(x, y)
        else:
            fizzle3d(x, y, z)

?