Let's try C++20 | using enum
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Pierre Gradot

Pierre Gradot @pgradot

About: Committed defender of C++ / Learning Rust / Python & CMake lover / Black metal guitarist & mountain bike rider

Location:
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Joined:
Mar 25, 2020

Let's try C++20 | using enum

Publish Date: Dec 22 '20
10 4

Proposal P1099R5 by Gašper Ažman and Jonathan Müller adds the possibility to write using enum my_enum; so that the names inside the enumeration my_enum can be used directly, with being preceded by my_enum::.

Let's consider an enumeration like this:

enum class EnumWithALongName {
    FirstValue,
    SecondValue,
    YetAnotherValue
};
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Until C++17, you had to write their fully qualified names to use the enumerators. Sometimes, it would make code quite verbose:

void process(EnumWithALongName value) {
    switch(value) {
        case EnumWithALongName:::FirstValue:
            // stuff
        case EnumWithALongName::SecondValue:
            // more stuff
        case EnumWithALongName::YetAnotherValue:
            // OK, I got it, we are dealing with EnumWithALongName...
    }
}
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Thanks to C++20, we can now write:

void process(EnumWithALongName value) {
    switch(value) {
        using enum EnumWithALongName; // this is new \o/

        case FirstValue:
            // stuff
        case SecondValue:
            // more stuff
        case YetAnotherValue:
            // code is more readable like this
    }
}
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It is also possible to bring up only some particular enumerators from an enumeration:

int main() {
    using EnumWithALongName::FirstValue, EnumWithALongName::SecondValue;
    auto value = FirstValue;
    return value != SecondValue;
}
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In my opinion, the last reason to use unscoped enums was the possibility to use them without being preceded by the name of the enumeration. This reason has now disappeared 😀

Comments 4 total

  • Maresia
    MaresiaJan 1, 2021

    With auto complete features like using enum seem useless and problematic. I prefer to use the full name to avoid the name conflict that can occur as the code grows.
    [from google translate]

    • Pierre Gradot
      Pierre GradotJan 2, 2021

      Just like using namespace std; or using std::cout;, you should you use using enum EnumWithALongName; in a (very) limited scope to avoid conflicts.

      From my experience, if everything function / type / constant is in a namespace, has a descriptive name, and you avoid wide scopes, you will almost run into troubles.

      And I assume the C++ committee as the same point view since they added using enum xxx to C++20 ;)

      Have you experienced some issues?

      • Maresia
        MaresiaJan 2, 2021

        Yes, it has occurred to me to use one function by mistake, imagining it to be another. The result was a code that behaved very strangely and I only noticed that it used the wrong function much later after spending a long time fighting with gdb. Since then I use this extensively and avoid using.

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