I'm confused about methods

General Usage
6

I feel like I should win a prize if I’ve found a bug this simple!

Anyway, simplifying further:

Scenario 1:

C:\Users\klaff>julia -q
julia> f()=1
f (generic function with 1 method)

julia> f(;a)=2
f (generic function with 1 method)

julia> methods(f)
# 1 method for generic function "f":
[1] f(; a) in Main at REPL[2]:1

julia> f()
ERROR: UndefKeywordError: keyword argument a not assigned
Stacktrace:
 [1] f() at .\REPL[2]:1
 [2] top-level scope at REPL[4]:1

julia> f(a=1)
2

julia>

Scenario 2:

C:\Users\klaff>julia -q
julia> f(;a)=2
f (generic function with 1 method)

julia> f()=1
f (generic function with 1 method)

julia> methods(f)
# 1 method for generic function "f":
[1] f(; a) in Main at REPL[2]:1

julia> f()
1

julia> f(a=1)
2

julia>

I’m happy to make an issue although I’m not sure exactly what it is. I don’t think order of definition should affect whether a method gets overwritten (but it should affect which is left standing). Certainly in scenario 2 the return from methods(f) is non consistent with reality (both methods are reachable).

How do I know (from a doc standpoint) whether those two methods should be allowed to coexist?

EDIT: If you change the above to f(;a=1)=2, then there are no surprises Whichever is defined last is the one method you get.