Function parameters in es6

There are 2 types of function parameters available in es6,

• Default Parameters
• Rest Parameters

Default Parameter

Default parameter are a way to pass a value to the function parameter when there is no value is being passed by the callee during invocation.

We specify this value when defining a function,

function printName(name = 'there') {
  return `Hello,  ${name}`
}

We can even use the default parameter of one parameter as part of an expression for another paramter. For eg:

function printName(name = 'there', fullname = name + ' lastName') {
  return `Hello,  ${name} -  ${fullname} `
}

Rest Parameters

The rest parameter syntax allows us to represent an indefinite number of arguments as an array.

This is achieved by using a new operator called Spread Operator which is represented by ... 3dots

Spread Operator It is used when we want to pass an array to a function as individual arguments of that function. For eg:

function sum(x, y, z) {
  return x + y + z
}
let values = [1, 2, 3]
// notice the usage of ...
sum(...values)

Another Example

function f(x, ...y) {
  // y is an Array
  return x * y.length
}
f(3, 'hello', true) == 6

If the last named argument of a function is prefixed with ..., it becomes an array whose elements from 0 (inclusive) to theArgs.length (exclusive) are supplied by the actual arguments passed to the function.

In the above example, theArgs would collect the third argument of the function (because the first one is mapped to a, and the second to b) and all the consecutive argument

Sources

1. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions/rest_parameters
2. https://lightrains.com/blogs/es6#default—rest—spread

This article originally appeared on lightrains.com