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Asked: 2026-05-13T16:44:53+00:00

I’m looking at some Java code that are maintained by other parts of the

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I’m looking at some Java code that are maintained by other parts of the company, incidentally some former C and C++ devs. One thing that is ubiquitous is the use of static integer constants, such as

class Engine {
    private static int ENGINE_IDLE = 0;
    private static int ENGINE_COLLECTING = 1;
    ...
}

Besides a lacking ‘final’ qualifier, I’m a bit bothered by this kind of code. What I would have liked to see, being trained primarily in Java from school, would be something more like

class Engine {
    private enum State { Idle, Collecting };
    ...
}

However, the arguments fail me. Why, if at all, is the latter better than the former?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Why, if at all, is the latter better
    than the former?

    It is much better because it gives you type safety and is self-documenting. With integer constants, you have to look at the API doc to find out what values are valid, and nothing prevents you from using invalid values (or, perhaps worse, integer constants that are completely unrelated). With Enums, the method signature tells you directly what values are valid (IDE autocompletion will work) and it’s impossible to use an invalid value.

    The “integer constant enums” pattern is unfortunately very common, even in the Java Standard API (and widely copied from there) because Java did not have Enums prior to Java 5.

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