(C) enum

Keyword, being an abbreviation of enumeration.

Using enumerations, you can make your code more readable and natural. Below is first an example of NOT using enum, then followed by the enum equivalent.

include <stdio.h>


//Without using enum
void sayHello(int sex)
{
  switch(sex)
  {
    case 0: 
      sprintf("(male voice) Hello!"); 
      break;
    case 1: 
      sprintf("(female voice) Hello!"); 
      break;
    case 2: 
      sprintf("(hermaphrodite voice) Hello!"); 
      break;
  }
}

This can be made more readable and type safe by:

enum Sex { male, female, hermaphrodite };
void sayHello(Sex sex)
{
  switch(sex)
  {
    case male: 
      sprintf("(male voice) Hello!");
      break;
    case female:     
      sprintf("(female voice) Hello!");
      break;
    case hermaphrodite: 
      sprintf("(hermaphrodite voice) Hello!");
      break;
  }
}

Of course, the example without enum can be converted to the example below, using macros. But why lose the benefit of type safety?

include <stdio.h>


define MALE           0

define FEMALE         1

define HERMAPHRODITE  2


//Without using enum
void sayHello(int sex)
{
  switch(sex)
  {
    case MALE: 
      sprintf("(male voice) Hello!"); 
      break;
    case FEMALE: 
      sprintf("(female voice) Hello!"); 
      break;
    case HERMAPHRODITE: 
      sprintf("(hermaphrodite voice) Hello!"); 
      break;
  }
}

Code links

'enum' links

last edited (March 8, 2007) by bilderbikkel, Number of views: 926, Current Rev: 2 (Diff)

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