Question

If this is my enum:

public enum Planet {
    MERCURY (3.303e+23),
    NEPTUNE (1.024e+26);

    private final double mass;   // in kilograms

    Planet(double mass) {
        this.mass = mass;
    }
    private double mass() { 
        return mass; 
    }
}

I can access the values like

Planet.MERCURY.mass();

Is there the chance to define the enum as “double” and let

Planet.MERCURY;

return a double?

Anyway I’m mainly interested in the appearance of the call to ensure code readability.

Answer 1

No. This is not possible with Java representation of enums. Personally I find Planet.MERCURY.mass() much more readable.

The only thing that comes to my mind slightly increasing the readability is making the mass public final instead of private final and refer to Planet.MERCURY.mass but I would give it some second thoughts.