Fixes default parameter calculation

[elijahbenizzy]

The defaults overwrote the equals operator, which then failed on cmoparison to .empty. This fixes it to use is Parameter.empty which is a better approach in python.

This was sloppy in the first place. Not adding tests everywhere but just where it matters.

Changes

How I tested this

Notes

Checklist

• PR has an informative and human-readable title (this will be pulled into the release notes)
• Changes are limited to a single goal (no scope creep)
• Code passed the pre-commit check & code is left cleaner/nicer than when first encountered.
• Any change in functionality is tested
• New functions are documented (with a description, list of inputs, and expected output)
• Placeholder code is flagged / future TODOs are captured in comments
• Project documentation has been updated if adding/changing functionality.