[vox-tech] overloading in C

[Bill Kendrick]

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 10:10:31PM -0800, Brian Lavender wrote:
> I guess in C, you can't overload a function?
<snip>

You could use "...", like prinf() and scanf() use. ;)

What I end up doing (and have seen other C-based APIs do) is
something like this:

  void oldfunction(type1 arg1)
  { ...some code... }

oops, I need two args!  Rewrite time!

  void newfunction(type1 arg1, type2 arg2)
  { ...some code... }

  void oldfunction(type1 arg1)
  {
    newfunction(arg1, somedefault);
  }


So now, anything that used oldfunction() still works as-is
(API didn't change), but if I need the additional arguments,
I can call the newer function (which really started life as
a rename of the old function, then had some code added to it).

It's kind of lame.  I do appreciate PHP letting me only
send args I need to, and providing defaults when declaring
the function.  e.g.:

  function getsomething($what, $how_many_days_ago = 7)
  { ... some code ...}

I can call it as:

  $thisweek = getsomething("cookies");
  $today = getsomething("cookies", 1);

This also means the default can change w/o the callers caring.
(Good or bad, depending ;) )


Rambling, sorry :)

-bill!