On 3/15/19 12:15 PM, Tom Lane wrote: > Chapman Flack <c...@anastigmatix.net> writes: >> So the proposal seems roughly equivalent to making string_to_array's >> second parameter optional default null, and array_to_string's second >> parameter optional default ''. > > In that case why bother? It'll just create a cross-version compatibility > hazard for next-to-no keystroke savings. If the cases were so common > that they could be argued to be sane "default" behavior, I might feel > differently --- but if you were asked in a vacuum what the default > delimiters ought to be, I don't think you'd say "no delimiter".
One could go further and argue that the non-optional arguments improve clarity: a reader seeing the explicit NULL or '' argument gets a strong clue what's intended, who in the optional-argument case might end up thinking "must go look up what this function's default delimiter is". -Chap
