Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c++:4093 gnu.g++:293 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!odi!valens!dlw From: dlw@odi.com (Dan Weinreb) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,gnu.g++ Subject: Re: Default argument values Message-ID: <397@odi.ODI.COM> Date: 23 Jul 89 22:20:20 GMT References: Sender: news@odi.com Reply-To: dlw@odi.com Followup-To: comp.lang.c++ Distribution: comp Lines: 17 In-reply-to: fox@cs.cs.columbia.edu's message of 23 Jul 89 19:12:17 GMT In article fox@cs.cs.columbia.edu (David Fox) writes: The way to do this is to allow caller to name the parameters We did exactly this to Common Lisp, for exactly the reason you cite. (Actually we did it to Common Lisp's ancestor, the MIT Lisp Machine dialect of Lisp, and the feature was carried over into Common Lisp). It turned out to be useful and is used fairly often in large Lisp programs. In my opinion, in the abstract, it would be a good thing. I can certainly see why making such a change to C++ at this point in its life might be significantly more difficult than making such a change to Lisp was in the late 1970's. But in this I should defer to the C++ designers, since I don't know all the considerations and ramifications. Dan Weinreb Object Design, Inc.