On Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:30:17 -0400, Jacob Carlborg <[email protected]> wrote:
On 2011-09-06 19:39, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
I like enums in terms of writing code that processes them, but in terms
of calling functions with them, I mean look at a sample fstream
constructor in C++:
fstream ifs("filename.txt", ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
vs.
File("filename.txt", "r+"); // or "rw"
There's just no way you can think "rw" is less descriptive or
understandable than ios_base::in | ios_base::out.
-Steve
BTW, I think that using:
Mode.read | Mode.write
Instead of "rw" is the same thing as one should name variables with a
proper descriptive names instead of just "a" or "b".
It's not the same. "a" and "b" do not have any meaning, they are just
variable names. "r" stands for read and "w" stands for write. It's
pretty obvious that they do, especially in the context of opening a file.
I'd equate it to using i, j, k for index variables -- they are not
descriptive, but in context, everyone knows what they mean.
And in response to the discussion about enum flags not being & or |
together, I emphatically think enums should be used for bitfields.
Remember, enum is not just an enumeration, it's a manifest constant. I
see no reason that we should not use the namespace-creation ability of
enum to create such constants. I don't see the downside.
-Steve
