PYTHON ENUM CODE

It's simply impossible to pass the function an invalid value, which is invaluable. In a type safe language you will even get compilation error if you provide a type/value out of range but since python is dynamic this would be hard. Your editor will also provide you with auto complete of valid values unless you're coding in notepad. Instead of every function having to reiterate all valid integer values of color or referring to some table.

If you knew that color was of the enum-type my_gui_lib.standard_colors you know exactly which colors you can use and you can reuse them for fill_ellipse also because it most likely uses the same type. (Ignore the fact that python doesn't have types in the function signature to start with, say you're reading the documentation instead) AFAICT, there was no honest discussion of simply establishing best practices using existing tools.īecause if you read the function signature of a function like def fill_rectangle(color) you haven't got the slightest idea what valid values of 'color' is. My only criticism of the process is that handful of enthusiasts (Eli, Ethan, Barry, etc) launched an avalanche of implementation and api-choice emails that buried and ignored the posts suggesting the language would be better-off without Enum. For the most part, the discussion did a nice job of considering existing recipes, possible use cases, and being as Pythonic as possible. If we had to have a Enum, the one that was accepted was a reasonable choice. Guido has accepted the PEP and it will enter the language, for better or for worse. There is no need to defend the proposal any more. The 'problem' wasn't that important to begin with. So, we should expect that people will hack it, abuse it, twist it into knots, subclass it, invent tricks will it, develop funky idioms, etc. Python is no longer a small language.Īlso, there is a lot of machinery behind Enums (killing a mosquito with a cannon).

PYTHON ENUM CODE

I expect the use of Enums will become pervasive simply because they're there, not because a given snippet of code actually needs it.Īs a person who teaches Python to engineers, I dread adding yet another have-to-know construct to the cirriculum. The fact that some large projects may have a use for Enums wasn't balanced against an impending avalanche of Enums being sprinkled in beginner code, small projects, recipes, etc. You and a couple other vociferous proponents completely drown-out the early commenters who valued language compactness and learnability over a pervasive new construct that solves a somewhat unimportant problem. Clearly, you're a big proponent of Enums needing to be in Python (I would estimate that you've made several hundred emails, comments, and posts on the subject).

Python enum