Enumerations

Enumerations is the long lost rich uncle that every programmer forgets about. They are a goldmine of simplification.

Enumeration guidelines:

• Use enumerations instead of #define.
• Encapsulate the enumeration inside a class if you can. This way it can be identified as being closely related to that particular class. This will also prevent a rogue enumeration from appearing in a header file all by itself so that you and Waldo have to search many files to find out where it is used.
• typedef your enumerations to make them more usable.
• Prefix enumeration variable names with enum. This way, when the variable is used you know exactly what it is.

19#19

Use enumerations for bit masks:

20#20

Even for keeping track of a class version:

21#21

See the Tips and Tricks section for more information on class versioning.