[xigoi]

This doesn’t answer the question why Zig doesn’t have default argument values.

[throwawaymaths]

Default argument variables create variadic functions.

Arity N when you supply a value

Arity N-1 when you use the default

[Phil_Latio]

How does this create variadic functions? The arity is the same, since the function signature defines the exact amount of arguments. The compiler just passes the omitted ones for you.

[xigoi]

Okay, but why could a static language not have variadic functions?

[throwawaymaths]

That's their design choice.

I can think of a few reasons

- makes function calling simpler

- faster compilation

- less symbol mangling

- makes grepping for function implementation easier

If for some reason you think you absolutely can't live without variadic functions, maybe don't use zig.