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Named arguments add context 2024-08-26 daily/2024/08/26/named-arguments-add-context
software-development
drupal
php
automated-testing
~ As well as types, PHP's named arguments also add context - particularly within tests. true

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that using types adds context to code, making it easier to read and understand.

Something else that also adds context is named arguments, which were introduced to PHP in version 8.0.0.

I particularly like them when making assertions within tests, where getting the expected and actual values in the wrong order can create some confusing output.

For example:

self::assertSame(expected: 'My Drupal website', actual: $node->label());

While I can tell from the assertion that I'm checking two values are the same, adding the argument names makes it clear which is the expected value and which is the actual value.

In fact, if you use named arguments, the order no longer matters, so I can put them in whichever order I want and it will work the same way.