Random.new(nil) throws error while Random.new() does not

[MayorGnarwhal (Gnarwhal)]

Reproduction Steps

Call Random.new(nil) with a nil argument given.

local rand = Random.new(nil)

local randomSeed = nil
local rand = Random.new(randomSeed)

repo.rbxl (40.0 KB)

Expected Behavior

Act as all other objects behave, where an argument nil is treated the same as no argument at all, and create a default object. As per the documentation, this should pull a random seed from elsewhere.

Actual Behavior

Throws the following error:

invalid argument #1 to 'new' (number expected, got nil) 

Workaround

Use a ternary operator if randomSeed is nil

local function getRandom(randomSeed: number?)
    return randomSeed and Random.new(randomSeed) or Random.new()
end

Issue Area: Engine
Issue Type: Other
Impact: Low
Frequency: Constantly
Date First Experienced: 2023-01-17 11:01:00 (-05:00)

[thirdtakeonit]

Thanks for the report! We’ve filed a ticket in our internal database.

[WheretIB]

@MayorGnarwhal

Act as all other objects behave, where an argument nil is treated the same as no argument at all, and create a default object.

There is no such requirement on Roblox APIs to treat missing arguments and ‘nil’ as the same thing.
They behave differently in many contexts.

@MayorGnarwhal

As per the documentation , this should pull a random seed from elsewhere.

Documentation states “If you don’t provide the seed parameter”. Passing ‘nil’ is providing the argument, so the default doesn’t apply.

We will consider this report as a feature request.

[subcritical]

Done. Random.new(nil) is now equivalent to Random.new().