Why can't typed optional arguments have a default of Null?

actionscript-3, arguments, null, optional-parameters

Solution

You can change your int to Number and then can set it to NaN which is a special number that means 'not a number' and this can represent your null state for a Number.

To check if something is NaN, you must use the isNaN() function and not `val == NaN`, or you will not get what you expect.

function Action(param:Number = NaN) : void {
    trace(param);
}

For all other objects, you can set them to null, but 'primitive' numbers are handled differently in Actionscript.

Problem

In ActionScript 3, when you declare an optional argument by giving it a default value, the value null cannot be used on typed arguments. ``` function Action(Param:int=null){ // 1184: Incompatible default value of type Null where int is expected. } function Action(Param:int=0){ // No compiler errors } ``` Any workarounds for this, or general purpose values that can apply to all data types?

Original source