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I'm just now realizing their power and utility over using a Constants class... but I'm very interested to know how they're implemented under the hood. They seem to work alot like a static method or static constant in that you just import the file that "owns" the enum and you can make reference to them by using enumName.valueName. The Javadocs online seem to suggest they're a class but it seems weird to have an "unnamed" class on demand. (In Java at least...)
667
Yes, Enum implements an interface in Java, it can be useful when we need to implement some business logic that is tightly coupled with a discriminatory property of a given object or class. An Enum is a special datatype which is added in Java 1.5 version.
An enum can, just like a class , have attributes and methods. The only difference is that enum constants are public , static and final (unchangeable - cannot be overridden). An enum cannot be used to create objects, and it cannot extend other classes (but it can implement interfaces).
A Java enum is a data type that stores a list of constants. You can create an enum object using the enum keyword. Enum constants appear as a comma-separated list within a pair of curly brackets. An enum, which is short for enumeration, is a data type that has a fixed set of possible values.
Each enum constant becomes a static final constant within that class. Then, an array $VALUES is created with all of the enum constants, in order of declaration. You can disassemble the code using the command javap -p -c Ordinals (on the compiled . class file) to find out the details.
i believe each instance of the enum is an anonymous final subclass of the enum.
decompile:
public enum Color {
r(0xff0000), g(0x00ff00), b(0x0000ff);
Color(int rgb) {
this.rgb=rgb;
}
final int rgb;
}
and you can see the instances being made:
D:\home\ray\dev\indigoapps\so8032067enumimpl\bin>javap -c Color
Compiled from "Color.java"
public final class Color extends java.lang.Enum{
public static final Color r;
public static final Color g;
public static final Color b;
final int rgb;
static {};
Code:
0: new #1; //class Color
3: dup
4: ldc #16; //String r
6: iconst_0
7: ldc #17; //int 16711680
9: invokespecial #18; //Method "<init>":(Ljava/lang/String;II)V
12: putstatic #22; //Field r:LColor;
15: new #1; //class Color
18: dup
19: ldc #24; //String g
21: iconst_1
22: ldc #25; //int 65280
24: invokespecial #18; //Method "<init>":(Ljava/lang/String;II)V
27: putstatic #26; //Field g:LColor;
30: new #1; //class Color
33: dup
34: ldc #28; //String b
36: iconst_2
37: sipush 255
40: invokespecial #18; //Method "<init>":(Ljava/lang/String;II)V
43: putstatic #29; //Field b:LColor;
46: iconst_3
47: anewarray #1; //class Color
50: dup
51: iconst_0
52: getstatic #22; //Field r:LColor;
55: aastore
56: dup
57: iconst_1
58: getstatic #26; //Field g:LColor;
61: aastore
62: dup
63: iconst_2
64: getstatic #29; //Field b:LColor;
67: aastore
68: putstatic #31; //Field ENUM$VALUES:[LColor;
71: return
public static Color[] values();
Code:
0: getstatic #31; //Field ENUM$VALUES:[LColor;
3: dup
4: astore_0
5: iconst_0
6: aload_0
7: arraylength
8: dup
9: istore_1
10: anewarray #1; //class Color
13: dup
14: astore_2
15: iconst_0
16: iload_1
17: invokestatic #43; //Method java/lang/System.arraycopy:(Ljava/lang/Obj
ect;ILjava/lang/Object;II)V
20: aload_2
21: areturn
public static Color valueOf(java.lang.String);
Code:
0: ldc #1; //class Color
2: aload_0
3: invokestatic #51; //Method java/lang/Enum.valueOf:(Ljava/lang/Class;L
java/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/Enum;
6: checkcast #1; //class Color
9: areturn
}
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