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From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject: Re: enum, what is it good for?
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2015 10:41:22 +0200
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On 24.04.2015 22:49, Sebastian wrote:
> Am 24.04.2015 20:28, schrieb Robert Klemme:

>> Additionally to what others have said in favor of enums already, you can
>> *very* concisely override methods in enum instances which is helpful for
>> implementing state, strategy and similar patterns.  With classes that
>> will look a lot more bulky.

> can you elaborate on that? In what way is overriding an Enum method more
> concise than overriding an ordinary class method?

package enm;

public enum Fmt1 {
   BRACKET {
     @Override
     public String format(Object o) {
       return "(" + o + ")";
     }
   },
   BRACES {
     @Override
     public String format(Object o) {
       return "{" + o + "}";
     }
   },
   SQUARES {
     @Override
     public String format(Object o) {
       return "[" + o + "]";
     }
   };

   public abstract String format(final Object o);

}

vs.

package enm;

public abstract class Fmt2 {

   public static final Fmt2 BRACKET = new Fmt2() {
     @Override
     public String format(Object o) {
       return "(" + o + ")";
     }
   };

   public static final Fmt2 BRACES = new Fmt2() {
     @Override
     public String format(Object o) {
       return "{" + o + "}";
     }
   };

   public static final Fmt2 SQUARES = new Fmt2() {
     @Override
     public String format(Object o) {
       return "[" + o + "]";
     }
   };

   public abstract String format(final Object o);
}

Granted, the difference is not too big.  If you take all differences 
together (i.e. the boilerplate that you have to write to get all the 
other features mentioned) it does make a significant difference.

Kind regards

	robert


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