Function overloading in Javascript - Best practices

Question

What is the best way(s) to fake function overloading in Javascript?

I know it is not possible to overload functions in Javascript as in other languages. If I neede

Answer 1

You can now do function overloading in ECMAScript 2018 without polyfills, checking var length/type, etc., just use the spread syntax.

function foo(var1, var2, opts){
  // set default values for parameters
  const defaultOpts = {
    a: [1,2,3],
    b: true,
    c: 0.3289,
    d: "str",
  }
  // merge default and passed-in parameters
  // defaultOpts must go first!
  const mergedOpts = {...defaultOpts, ...opts};

  // you can now refer to parameters like b as mergedOpts.b,
  // or just assign mergedOpts.b to b
  console.log(mergedOpts.a);
  console.log(mergedOpts.b);
  console.log(mergedOpts.c);  
  console.log(mergedOpts.d);
}
// the parameters you passed in override the default ones
// all JS types are supported: primitives, objects, arrays, functions, etc.
let var1, var2="random var";
foo(var1, var2, {a: [1,2], d: "differentString"});

// parameter values inside foo:
//a: [1,2]
//b: true
//c: 0.3289
//d: "differentString"

What is spread syntax?

The Rest/Spread Properties for ECMAScript proposal (stage 4) adds spread properties to object literals. It copies own enumerable properties from a provided object onto a new object. More on mdn

Note: spread syntax in object literals doesn't work in Edge and IE and it is an experimental feature. see browser compatability