I keep tripping over "true, false, true" • Hacker News Board

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#11

Post by heyitsdaad » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

You answered your own question. Call with

const isAdmin = true; . . . createUser(user, isAdmin, sendWelcomeEmail)

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#12

Post by bcjdjsndon » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:41 PM UTC

Isn't this more an issue with typescript? Doesn't your ide give you the declaration if you hover over the call?

> And I’ve seen real calls like this in production code: > updateSettings(user, true, false, true, false)

Really? He wants named parameters on all function calls cos he's got a memory like a sieve? This is a long solved problem to me

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#13

Post by rideontime » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:41 PM UTC

I was nodding along with the piece in the first half, then it repeated the same point five more times and I started to smell slop.

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#14

Post by empath75 » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

rideontime wrote: post #13

I was nodding along with the piece in the first half, then it repeated the same point five more times and I started to smell slop.

You can tell it was written by claude after just a few sentences, really.

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#15

Post by readthenotes1 » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:50 PM UTC

Someone want to recreate Smalltalk...

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#16

Post by edwcross » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:52 PM UTC

OCaml has had labeled arguments for decades, so I assumed other languages would have added something similar by now. In C-style, it would be like:

  createUser(user, ~isAdmin:true, ~sendWelcomeEmail:false)

Even though in OCaml's functional style it is actually like this:

  createUser user ~isAdmin:true ~sendWelcomeEmail:false

Using the fact that a variable named exactly like a labeled argument is automatically assigned to it, we can make the call more concise (especially if reusing existing variables):

  let isAdmin = true in
  let sendWelcomeEmail = false in
  createUser user ~isAdmin ~sendWelcomeEmail

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#17

Post by esafak » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:53 PM UTC

Usable languages let you use named arguments foo(bar=zaz), and linters let you enforce their use for booleans.

https://kotlinlang.org/docs/functions.html#named-arguments

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#18

Post by lostmsu » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

edwcross wrote: post #16

OCaml has had labeled arguments for decades, so I assumed other languages would have added something similar by now. In C-style, it would be like: createUser(user, ~isAdmin:true, ~sendWelcomeEmail:false) Even though in OCaml's functional style it is actually like this: createUser user ~isAdmin:true ~sendWelcomeEmail:false Using the fact that a variable named exactly like a labeled argument is automatically assigned t…

C# has that

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#19

Post by tantalor » Mon, May 11, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC

This one is a classic,

Avoid the Long Parameter List

https://testing.googleblog.com/2024/05/avoid-long-parameter-...

Re: I keep tripping over "true, false, true"

#20

Post by rcxdude » Mon, May 11, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

heyitsdaad wrote: post #11

You answered your own question. Call with const isAdmin = true; . . . createUser(user, isAdmin, sendWelcomeEmail)

If you swap the order of isAdmin and sendWelcomeEmail you'll get no error from the compiler but now the names will be masking the actual behaviour.