python里default_python函数中的default怎么理解

以下这段代码的default怎么理解，是有个参数为default吗？那么这个default有什么用途呢？我是从c#转来学python的，看到这个函数觉得很奇怪，觉得default是多余的。(代码是从开源程序中copy来的)def pretty_date(dt, default=None):

"""

Returns string representing "time since" e.g.

3 days ago, 5 hours ago etc.

"""

if default is None:

default = 'just now'

now = datetime.utcnow()

diff = now - dt

periods = (

(diff.days / 365, 'year', 'years'),

(diff.days / 30, 'month', 'months'),

(diff.days / 7, 'week', 'weeks'),

(diff.days, 'day', 'days'),

(diff.seconds / 3600, 'hour', 'hours'),

(diff.seconds / 60, 'minute', 'minutes'),

(diff.seconds, 'second', 'seconds'),

)

for period, singular, plural in periods:

if not period:

continue

if period == 1:

return u'%d %s ago' % (period, singular)

else:

return u'%d %s ago' % (period, plural)

return default