Enums as Types

[that-hatter]

Should Enums be usable as Types? e.g.:

parameters:
  - name: loc
    type: [ Location ]
    description: The location to check.

instead of using int and linking to the enum in the description:

parameters:
  - name: loc
    type: [ int ]
    description: The [Location](/api/enums/Location) to check.

This means the signature of Card.IsLocation in the site would be displayed as Card.IsLocation(Card c, Location loc) instead of Card.IsLocation(Card c, int loc).

Pros:

• The allowed values are formalized and summarized nicely. Can also help static analyzers narrow down erroneous values.
• No need to redundantly link to the enum in the description, especially if the enum's name gets mentioned more than once. (Related: shorthand for linking to api entries)

Cons:

• Could confuse people expecting an "enum" to represent all allowed values when used as a type. For example, in the case of the Location enum, you could actually pass a combination of LOCATION_ constants, e.g. LOCATION_MZONE|LOCATION_SZONE.

[feeshstick]

you can still display it as int. As all enum entries are Integer. imo. they should be used as types.

---

if you want to go really fancy and intend to confuse users, do something like this

IntExpression<E, Op> ::= E | IntExpression<E, Op> Op E

type: [ IntExpression<Location, Op.Pipe | Op.Plus> ]

[that-hatter]

I don't think it's a good idea to use enums as types then not display them as such. Sort of defeats the purpose.

[feeshstick]

I don't think it's a good idea to use enums as types then not display them as such. Sort of defeats the purpose.

I think it does make sense to display them as types which extend int to avoid your concern of confusion. You could create a type / extend the enum to allow for certain operations like '+' or '|' afaik, there's no enum that can be used in combination of a value defined in another enum. but if there is, it could be defined as new type combining the enums with allowed operations.