Question

I have a group of values that represent a state (ON, OFF, READY, …). These values also get stored in a DB as an int field, so I am wondering if best practices would say to make this an enum or just bunch of const int types on a class.

Enum seems like a natural fit for human reading/coding, but it seems like it hides the fact that it matters which integers the values map to (or else values retrieved from a DB will be instantiated to the incorrect state). Someone may come in later and add a new value to the enum or something and throw the whole thing off.

Which is the better approach?

Answer 1

I think enum is still the best choice for readability. However, since its values get stored in the DB, you should specify the values explicitly:

enum State { On = 1, Off = 2, Ready = 3};