Shouldn't C# 4.0's new "named parameters" feature be called "named arguments"?

Question

I suppose there could be historical reasons for this naming and that other languages have similar feature, but it also seems to me that parameters always had a name in C#. Arguments are the unnamed ones.

Answer 1

Yes, you're absolutely right (to my mind, anyway). Ironically, although I'm usually picky about these terms, I still use "parameter passing" when I should probably talk about "argument passing". I suppose one could argue that prior to C# 4.0, if you're calling a method you don't care about the parameter names, whereas the names become part of the significant metadata when you can specify them on the arguments as well.

I agree that it makes a difference, and that terminology is important.

"Optional parameters" is definitely okay though - that's adding metadata to the parameter when you couldn't do so before :) (Having said that, it's not going to be optional in terms of the generated IL...)

Would you like me to ask the team for their feedback?

Answer 2

Oh, you wanted arguments! Sorry, this is parameters - arguments are two doors down the hall on the left.

Answer 3

I don't think so. The names are quite definitely the names of parameters, as they are defined and given a specific meaning in the method definition, where they are properly called the parameters to the method. At the call site, arguments can now be tagged with the name of the parameter that they supply a value for.

The new term refers to the perspective of the method caller - which is logical because that's where the feature applies. Previously, callers only had to think of parameters as being "positioned parameters". Now they can optionally treat them as "named parameters" - hence the name.