Scribd
Upload
15 views7 pages

17 Enum

Enumeration constants allow programmers to define a user-defined type consisting of a set of integer constants represented by identifiers. C provides the enum keyword to define an enumeration type. For example, enum day {sun, mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat} defines a new type enum day where each identifier is assigned an integer code starting from 0. Enumerations improve readability over using #define for symbolic constants.

Uploaded by

adityabaid4
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
15 views7 pages

17 Enum

Enumeration constants allow programmers to define a user-defined type consisting of a set of integer constants represented by identifiers. C provides the enum keyword to define an enumeration type. For example, enum day {sun, mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat} defines a new type enum day where each identifier is assigned an integer code starting from 0. Enumerations improve readability over using #define for symbolic constants.

Uploaded by

adityabaid4
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Enumeration constants

4/10/2013

Ease of programming .

For example it might be more meaningful to use variables of type color whose values are one in {red, blue, green} color j; /* j is of type color */ j = blue; /* j is assigned with value blue */ if(j == red) { .; } So, how to create a simple user defined type like this?
2

4/10/2013

Enumeration constants

C provides a simple user defined type called enumeration. An enumeration, introduced by the keyword enum, is a set of integer constants represented by identifiers. These enumeration constants are, in effect, symbolic constants whose values can be set automatically.

4/10/2013

An example

enum day { sun, mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat }; This creates a new type, enum day enum day j; /* j can have a value from the prespecified set */ j = mon; /* OK */

4/10/2013

How enumerations are implemented

enum day { sun, mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat }; Actually, each identifier is assigned a integer code. In the above example, sun is a identifier whose code is 0, for mon the code is 1, ., for sat the code is 6. So, actually, when we say enum day j = mon; j is an integer variable and its value is 1. We can also specify the codes explicitly. Eg: enum color { red = 1, blue = 10, green = 100};

4/10/2013

Continuation

If the code values are not explicitly specified, then the code for the first identifier is 0, second identifier is 1, . If some identifiers are specified explicitly, then the remaining unspecified values continue the progression from the last specified value. enum color {red =5, blue, green}; red has code 5, blue has code 6, and green has code 7. More than one identifier can have the same code. enum escapes {BELL = \a, BACKSPACE = \b, TAB = \t};

4/10/2013

Moral of the story

Enumeration is a betterment over #define #define red 0 #define blue 1 #define green 2 The above has almost the same effect as enum day {red, blue, green}; Nevertheless, it is a good programming practice to use appropriate enums; it improves readability.
7

4/10/2013

You might also like