Why is an Enum considered more type-safe than constants?

Question

In our example, we can choose to define an Enumerated Type that will restrict the possible assigned values (i.e. improved type-safety): ``` public class OfficePrinter { public enum PrinterState { Ready, OutOfToner, Offline }; public static final PrinterState STATE = PrinterState.Ready; } static final char MY_A_CONST = 'a'; ```

Accepted Answer

Imagine these two method signatures:

```
void rawF(char someFlag);

void enumF(MyFlags someFlag);
```

The latter is more restrictive as only the valid values of `MyFlags` are allowed. In the former case, any character could be passed - even if only the values defined in "constants" where used.

Happy coding.

Why is an Enum considered more type-safe than constants?

Solution

Problem