Question

I have a perhaps silly question… I am trying to determine what is the best approach for typing a property whose value will be either “New” or “Used”. Do I use an enum or should I just go with a boolean (e.g. IsNew)? If I go with enum, what should I call this type and property name? (public NewOrUsed NewOrUsed {get; set;} <– confusing)

Obviously, with enum I can have state that declares neither value (NONE, NEW, USED) and enum is more future-proof (although one can claim there is no chance other values will exist). Again, what is the appropriate name for such a type and property?

With boolean – it’s pretty straight forward (either using IsNew or IsUsed)

I know it’s silly, but I am curious what others think

Regards
Z..

Update

If you prefer enum, please comment on what should be appropriate name for type and property (e.g public NewUsedType NewOrUsed {get; set;})

Answer 1

You mentioned in a comment “I allready [sic] have a Condition – it refers to a condition when something is Y”Used” (e.g. used vehicle/book can be in “fair”, “like new”, “mint” condition) ;)”

So with that piece of information, I’d definitely go with a bool. You already have an extensible way of establishing the condition so this is more of a categorical thing. You may some time in the future you may want something whether more than one condition counts as “New” say:

public enum ConditionType {Fair, LikeNew, Mint, New}

public ConditionType Condition { get; set; }

public bool IsNew
{
    get { return Condition == ConditionType.New || Condition == ConditionType.Mint; }
}