Which is the better way to simulate optional parameters in Java?

Posted by froadie on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by froadie
Published on 2010-03-17T15:11:20Z Indexed on 2010/03/17 15:21 UTC
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java

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optional-parameters

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null

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method-overloading

I have a Java method that takes 3 parameters, and I'd like it to also have a 4th "optional" parameter. I know that Java doesn't support optional parameters directly, so I coded in a 4th parameter and when I don't want to pass it I pass null. (And then the method checks for null before using it.) I know this is kind of clunky... but the other way is to overload the method which will result in quite a bit of duplication.

Which is the better way to implement optional method parameters in Java: using a nullable parameter, or overloading? And why?

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