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Rediscovering JavaScript: ES6, ES7 & ES8

The Power and Perils of arguments

Explore how JavaScript functions handle variable numbers of arguments through the arguments object and why the rest parameter is a better modern alternative. Understand the limitations of the traditional arguments object, learn how rest parameters improve code clarity and flexibility, and gain practical skills to write more efficient functions.

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The ability to pass a variable number of arguments to a function is esoteric in many languages, but it is commonplace in JavaScript.

📝Note: JavaScript functions always take a variable number of arguments, even if we define named parameters in function definitions.

Here’s a max() function that takes two named parameters:

Javascript (babel-node)
'use strict';
//START:CODE
const max = function(a, b) {
  if (a > b) {
    return a;
  }
    
  return b;
};
  
console.log(max(1, 3));
console.log(max(4, 2));
console.log(max(2, 7, 1));
//END:CODE

🙋‍♀️ Emma has a question: We can invoke the function with two arguments, but what if we call it with three arguments?

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