Java advantage of Enum

Question

What is the advantage of using an Enum class to compare something. What is the disadvantage of :

public static final String TRUE = "true";
public static final String FALSE = "false";

public void method1(){

    if(TRUE.equals(inputString)){
        //do some logic
    }
    else if(FALSE.equals(inputString)){
        //do some other logic
    }
}

Why is it recommended to use Enum instead of String in the example?

Ernest Friedman-Hill · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-21 03:52:57Z

5

One important reason is that with the enum, you know the value is either TRUE or FALSE; it can't be anything else. But the String can have any value at all, so you have to check for that. This makes code both simpler and easier to understand.

Another is that you can compare enum elements with ==, but you have to use a relatively slow equals() call to compare String objects.

answered Apr 21, 2012 at 3:52

Ernest Friedman-Hill

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3 Comments

Victor Over a year ago

Thanks. Can you also tell me if there is any other use of ENUM except for == comparison?

Paul Over a year ago

You can also use Enums in switch statements, unlike strings (for JREs < 1.7).

emory Over a year ago

Enums are objects. They have methods. You can add your own methods. You can define custom implementations for specific instances of your enum.

viktor · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-21 07:30:06Z

2

Resons why you should use enums:

Enums are strong typed
Comparing enums is faster, you can use == instead equals()
Enums can implement interfaces, methods and functions. For example enum for various metric systems Metric.EUCLID.distance(Point a, Point b));
There is bunch of convenience methods out of the box - MyEnum[] all = MyEnum.values(); MyEnum.valueOf("ENUM_NAME");
You can use them in a switch statement since Java 5, String since Java 7.
IMO It makes code a bit more readable.

answered Apr 21, 2012 at 7:30

viktor

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