Overload a method or use default values? c++

Question

I\'m still relatively new to C++ and I can\'t seem to figure out the difference in the following two ways of coding a function that may take one parameter or maybe two or th

Answer 1

There are several technical reasons to prefer overloading to default arguments, they are well laid out in Google's C++ Style Guide in the Default Arguments section:

Function pointers are confusing in the presence of default arguments, since the function signature often doesn't match the call signature. Adding a default argument to an existing function changes its type, which can cause problems with code taking its address. Adding function overloads avoids these problems.

and:

default parameters may result in bulkier code since they are replicated at every call-site -- as opposed to overloaded functions, where "the default" appears only in the function definition.

On the positive side it says:

Often you have a function that uses default values, but occasionally you want to override the defaults. Default parameters allow an easy way to do this without having to define many functions for the rare exceptions.

So your choice will depend on how relevant the negative issues are for your application.