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iOS Swift Basics (retired) Collections What is a Dictionary?

Sam Matthews
Sam Matthews
8,276 Points
Posted by Sam Matthews
Sam Matthews
8,276 Points

Difference between function calls with arrays

Going through this course I notice that the functions seem to be inconsistent in the way they are called. So for example:

todo.removeAtIndex(2) todo.insert("Call Mumma", atIndex: 0)

removeAtIndex says I only need to specify the index position, where the insert function says I need the value I'm inserting into the array and then this:

atIndex: 0

Why do I need to specify the name of the parameter in the 2nd part of the call, but not the first ?

Is this some sort of standard that is adopted in Swift or is the second example a method call as opposed to a function.

In my world (oracle dba who is somewhat familiar with oracle database and PL/SQL), this is unusual, so if anyone has any reasons why this would be then that would be great.

I always like to understand why things are done a certain way.

Many thanks

Sam.,

karan patel
karan patel
1,046 Points

functions are methods arrays are ordered list of data entered func xyz() { //some kind of method .... .... .... }

var abc = ["LOL","ROFL","COOL","BATMAN","TREEHOUSE"]

1 Answer

Rodrigo Chousal
Rodrigo Chousal
16,009 Points
Rodrigo Chousal
Rodrigo Chousal
16,009 Points

Hey Sam!

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the reason for the parameters to be different is simply because you don't need to know the value of the index in order to remove it. For example, you can have an array with 5 values, and simply remove index[1] without knowing the value of that index. On the other hand, when inserting a new index, that index needs a value and a location, that is why you need to specify the value, and then where you want that value to be located inside the array (the index).

Hope this helps!