C# Optional Parameters or Method Overload?

Question

Since C# added optional parameters is it considered a better practice to use optional parameters or method overloads or is there a particular case where you would want to use one over the other. i.e a function w/ lots of parameters would be better suited w/ optional parameters?

Answer 1

Optional parameters are nice, but should be used when it makes sense. Optional parameters often muddy the intent of the method -- If there is another alternative I would lean towards the alternative.

Part of the need for optional parameters and named parameters is because COM allowed optional and name parameters:

MSDN

Some APIs, most notably COM interfaces such as the Office automation APIs, are written specifically with named and optional parameters in mind. Up until now it has been very painful to call into these APIs from C#, with sometimes as many as thirty arguments having to be explicitly passed, most of which have reasonable default values and could be omitted.

SomeNewKid from forums.asp.net puts succinctly:

http://forums.asp.net/t/386604.aspx/1

...overloaded methods are generally preferable to optional parameters. Why? To keep each of your methods clear in purpose. That is, each method should do one thing well. As soon as you introduce optional parameters, you are diluting the cleanliness of that method, and introducing branching logic that is probably best kept out of a method. This clarity of purpose becomes even more important when you start using inheritance. If you override a method that has one or more optional parameters, they become harder to work with. So, I'd suggest that for anything other than quick and dirty classes, you use overloading in preference to optional parameters.

Keep in mind that optional parameters are a syntactical sugar:

Reflector C#:

public class Class1
{
    // Methods
    public Class1()
    {
        this.Method1("3", "23");
    }

    public void Method1(string one, [Optional, DefaultParameterValue("23")] string two)
    {
    }
}

IL:

.class public auto ansi beforefieldinit Class1
    extends [mscorlib]System.Object
{
    .method public hidebysig specialname rtspecialname instance void .ctor() cil managed
    {
        .maxstack 8
        L_0000: ldarg.0 
        L_0001: call instance void [mscorlib]System.Object::.ctor()
        L_0006: nop 
        L_0007: nop 
        L_0008: ldarg.0 
        L_0009: ldstr "3"
        L_000e: ldstr "23"
        L_0013: call instance void WebApplication1.Class1::Method1(string, string)
        L_0018: nop 
        L_0019: nop 
        L_001a: ret 
    }

    .method public hidebysig instance void Method1(string one, [opt] string two) cil managed
    {
        .param [2] = string('23')
        .maxstack 8
        L_0000: nop 
        L_0001: ret 
    }

}