Parameter destructuring (equivalent of python's double-splat)

Question

In python I can pass a dict whose keys match parameters' names with the ** (double-splat) operator:

def foo(a, b):
    print (a - b)

args = {'b': 7, 'a': 10}

foo(**args) # prints 3

How to do the same in ES6? This doesn't work:

function foo(a, b) {
    console.log(a - b)
}

args = {b: 7, a: 10}

foo(...args)

NB: I'm looking for a solution that wouldn't involve changing the signature of foo because I want it to be used either way (with and without destructuring). So the following should work:

foo(<magic>args);

foo(123, 456);

Bonus question: why is the error message "undefined is not a function"? What exactly is undefined here?

(As answered by @Nina Scholz in the comments, this is because ... requires its argument to have Symbol.iterator, which is not defined for objects).

Answer 1

How to do the same in ES6?

There are no named arguments in JS, only positional ones. So the answer is: you can not.

What you can do is either emulate named arguments via object passing, as @Andy suggested.

function foo({ a, b }) {
    console.log(a - b);
}

let args = { b: 7, a: 10 };

foo(args);

Or you could make args to be an array, so you can destruct it into positional arguments.

function foo(a, b) {
    console.log(a - b);
}

let args = [10, 7];

foo(...args);

Okay-okay, just for the sake of the argument: it is possible to write a function that will extract parameters of foo and yield properties of args in required order.

function * yolo(args, fn) {
    const names = fn.toString().match(/\(.+\)/)[0]
                    .slice(1, -1).split(',')
                    .map(x => x.trim());

    while (names.length) {
        yield args[names.shift()];
    }
}

function foo(a, b) {
    console.log(a - b);
}

const args = { b: 7, a: 10 };

foo(...yolo(args, foo));

I would not dare to use it in production though.

Answer 2

You need to wrap your args in curly braces, and again in the argument list for the function.

function foo({a, b}) {
    console.log(a - b)
}

let args = {b: 7, a: 10}

foo({...args})