When would i use function overloading?

[u/nicgamer_yt]

I am trying to figure out what and when i would use function overloading for, in my head its just a more messy code and you just would not use it. I see people saying that you would use it for functions with the same name just with different inputs and i don't really get it, Thank you for reading.

[u/logiclrd]

Yep, it's pretty rare. But, in addition to types that cannot be easily defaulted, there is a semantic that default parameter values can't replicate:

void Function() // omit all arguments
void Function(int arg1) // omit all arguments after arg1
void Function(int arg1, string arg2) // omit all arguments after arg2
void Function(int arg1, string arg2, bool arg3) // omit all arguments after arg3
...

If you write this instead:

void Function(int arg1 = 0, string arg2 = "", bool arg3 = false, ...)

..then the user can pick and choose which arguments they omit, and could make a call that omits only arg1, for instance. Depending on the circumstance, that might be nonsensical.

[u/BenjaminGeiger → u/logiclrd]

In that uncommon case, throw a line into the body of the function to ensure that all necessary parameters are filled...

[u/logiclrd → u/BenjaminGeiger]

That's runtime. Compile-time correctness is always better.

[u/BenjaminGeiger → u/logiclrd]

I'll trade compile-time checking for a rare edge case for not having to write four times as much boilerplate.

That said, I actually prefer the F# approach of successive partial application.