Re: Fixing "typos" in enums...
On 11/18/2013 1:25 PM, Andreas Leitgeb wrote:
Jan Burse <janburse@fastmail.fm> wrote:
Andreas Leitgeb schrieb:
// public enum Foo { FURST, SECOND }
public enum Foo { FIRST, SECOND; public static final FURST = FIRST; }
Maybe mark FURST also as deprecated.
And put a comment that says what should
be used instead of FURST, which could
go into javadoc.
Definitely a good idea, which I forgot about. Thanks for reminding!
In as far APIs behave similar as natural
language since for whatever reason synonyms
develop, and even word meanings disappear
over the time. Overloading of methods even
allows a form of polysemy.
It would be nice, if enum had the concept of synonyms:
<dream-mode>
- each synonym is an alias for a particular constant
- synonyms would be recognized by valueOf(String)
- synonyms could be annotated as @Deprecated
- synonyms could be used in a switch, but then the
canonical name (or any other synonym for the same
constant) must not be used in the same switch.
</dream-mode>
Well, I know it's not going to happen. Just wanted it off my chest ;-)
It'd make a mess of EnumMaps, too ...
I don't think there's any single Right Way to address your
problem, no one-size-fits-all solution. Elsethread it's written
that a published API is "set in stone," but there are many kinds
of stone. Of all posters to this thread, only you know whether
the stone is obsidian or talc; only you know how hard a tool is
required to scratch it.
--
Eric Sosman
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid