RFC: required keyword arguments

NEWS.md

@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ New language features
   * Values for `Enum`s can now be specified inside of a `begin` block when using the
     `@enum` macro ([#25424]).
 
+  * Keyword arguments can be required: if a default value is omitted, then an
+    exception is thrown if the caller does not assign the keyword a value ([#25830]).
+
 Language changes
 ----------------
 
@@ -1260,4 +1263,4 @@ Command-line option changes
 [#25622]: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/25622
 [#25634]: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/25634
 [#25654]: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/25654
-[#25655]: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/25655
+[#25655]: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/25655

base/boot.jl

@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ export
     InterruptException, InexactError, OutOfMemoryError, ReadOnlyMemoryError,
     OverflowError, StackOverflowError, SegmentationFault, UndefRefError, UndefVarError,
     TypeError, ArgumentError, MethodError, AssertionError, LoadError, InitError,
+    UnassignedKeyword,
     # AST representation
     Expr, GotoNode, LabelNode, LineNumberNode, QuoteNode,
     GlobalRef, NewvarNode, SSAValue, Slot, SlotNumber, TypedSlot,
@@ -253,6 +254,9 @@ end
 struct ArgumentError <: Exception
     msg::AbstractString
 end
+struct UnassignedKeyword <: Exception
+    var::Symbol
+end
 
 struct MethodError <: Exception
     f

base/docs/basedocs.jl

@@ -1019,6 +1019,13 @@ A symbol in the current scope is not defined.
 """
 UndefVarError
 
+"""
+    UnassignedKeyword(var::Symbol)
+
+The required keyword argument `var` was not assigned in a function call.
+"""
+UnassignedKeyword
+
 """
     OverflowError(msg)
 

base/errorshow.jl

@@ -134,6 +134,9 @@ showerror(io::IO, ex::ArgumentError) = print(io, "ArgumentError: $(ex.msg)")
 showerror(io::IO, ex::AssertionError) = print(io, "AssertionError: $(ex.msg)")
 showerror(io::IO, ex::OverflowError) = print(io, "OverflowError: $(ex.msg)")
 
+showerror(io::IO, ex::UnassignedKeyword) =
+    print(io, "UnassignedKeyword: keyword argument $(ex.var) not assigned")
+
 function showerror(io::IO, ex::UndefVarError)
     if ex.var in [:UTF16String, :UTF32String, :WString, :utf16, :utf32, :wstring, :RepString]
         return showerror(io, ErrorException("""

doc/src/base/base.md

@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ Base.ParseError
 Core.StackOverflowError
 Base.SystemError
 Core.TypeError
+Core.UnassignedKeyword
 Core.UndefRefError
 Core.UndefVarError
 Base.InitError

doc/src/manual/functions.md

@@ -518,6 +518,17 @@ function f(x; y=0, kwargs...)
 end
 ```
 
+If a keyword argument is not assigned a default value in the method definition,
+then it is *required*: an [`UnassignedKeyword`](@ref) exception will be thrown
+if the caller does not assign it a value:
+```julia
+function f(x; y)
+    ###
+end
+f(3, y=5) # ok, y is assigned
+f(3)      # throws UnassignedKeyword(:y)
+```
+
 Inside `f`, `kwargs` will be a named tuple. Named tuples (as well as dictionaries) can be passed as
 keyword arguments using a semicolon in a call, e.g. `f(x, z=1; kwargs...)`.
 

src/julia-syntax.scm

@@ -644,12 +644,22 @@
     (if (pair? invalid)
         (if (and (pair? (car invalid)) (eq? 'parameters (caar invalid)))
             (error "more than one semicolon in argument list")
-            (cond ((symbol? (car invalid))
-                   (error (string "keyword argument \"" (car invalid) "\" needs a default value")))
-                  (else
-                   (error (string "invalid keyword argument syntax \""
-                                  (deparse (car invalid))
-                                  "\" (expected assignment)"))))))))
+            (error (string "invalid keyword argument syntax \""
+                           (deparse (car invalid)) "\""))))))
+
+; replace unassigned kw args with assignment to throw() call (forcing the caller to assign the keyword)
+(define (throw-unassigned-kw-args argl)
+  (define (throw-unassigned argname)
+    `(call (core throw) (call (core UnassignedKeyword) (inert ,argname))))
+  (if (has-parameters? argl)
+      (cons (cons 'parameters
+                  (map (lambda (x)
+                         (cond ((symbol? x) `(kw ,x ,(throw-unassigned x)))
+                               ((decl? x) `(kw ,x ,(throw-unassigned (cadr x))))
+                               (else x)))
+                       (cdar argl)))
+            (cdr argl))
+      argl))
 
 ;; method-def-expr checks for keyword arguments, and if there are any, calls
 ;; keywords-method-def-expr to expand the definition into several method
@@ -658,7 +668,7 @@
 ;; which handles optional positional arguments by adding the needed small
 ;; boilerplate definitions.
 (define (method-def-expr name sparams argl body rett)
-  (let ((argl (remove-empty-parameters argl)))
+  (let ((argl (throw-unassigned-kw-args (remove-empty-parameters argl))))
     (if (has-parameters? argl)
         ;; has keywords
         (begin (check-kw-args (cdar argl))

test/keywordargs.jl

@@ -308,3 +308,15 @@ end
                 ((1, 3, 5, 6, 7),
                  (a = 2, b = 4, c = 8, d = 9, f = 10))
 end
+
+@testset "required keyword arguments" begin
+    f(x; y, z=3) = x + 2y + 3z
+    @test f(1, y=2) === 14 === f(10, y=2, z=0)
+    @test_throws UnassignedKeyword f(1)
+    @test_throws UnassignedKeyword f(1, z=2)
+    g(x; y::Int, z=3) = x + 2y + 3z
+    @test g(1, y=2) === 14 === g(10, y=2, z=0)
+    @test_throws TypeError g(1, y=2.3)
+    @test_throws UnassignedKeyword g(1)
+    @test_throws UnassignedKeyword g(1, z=2)
+end