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Pierre Gradot
Pierre Gradot

Posted on • Edited on

Let's try C++20 | using enum

#cpp #programming #todayilearned

Proposal P1099R5 by Gašper Ažman and Jonathan Müller adds the possibility to write using enum my_enum; so that the names inside the enumeration my_enum can be used directly, with being preceded by my_enum::.

Let's consider an enumeration like this:

enum class EnumWithALongName { FirstValue, SecondValue, YetAnotherValue };
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Until C++17, you had to write their fully qualified names to use the enumerators. Sometimes, it would make code quite verbose:

void process(EnumWithALongName value) { switch(value) { case EnumWithALongName:::FirstValue: // stuff case EnumWithALongName::SecondValue: // more stuff case EnumWithALongName::YetAnotherValue: // OK, I got it, we are dealing with EnumWithALongName... } }
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Thanks to C++20, we can now write:

void process(EnumWithALongName value) { switch(value) { using enum EnumWithALongName; // this is new \o/ case FirstValue: // stuff case SecondValue: // more stuff case YetAnotherValue: // code is more readable like this } }
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It is also possible to bring up only some particular enumerators from an enumeration:

int main() { using EnumWithALongName::FirstValue, EnumWithALongName::SecondValue; auto value = FirstValue; return value != SecondValue; }
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In my opinion, the last reason to use unscoped enums was the possibility to use them without being preceded by the name of the enumeration. This reason has now disappeared 😀

Top comments (4)

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maresia profile image
Maresia •

With auto complete features like using enum seem useless and problematic. I prefer to use the full name to avoid the name conflict that can occur as the code grows.
[from google translate]

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Pierre Gradot • • Edited

Just like using namespace std; or using std::cout;, you should you use using enum EnumWithALongName; in a (very) limited scope to avoid conflicts.

From my experience, if everything function / type / constant is in a namespace, has a descriptive name, and you avoid wide scopes, you will almost run into troubles.

And I assume the C++ committee as the same point view since they added using enum xxx to C++20 ;)

Have you experienced some issues?

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maresia profile image
Maresia • • Edited

Yes, it has occurred to me to use one function by mistake, imagining it to be another. The result was a code that behaved very strangely and I only noticed that it used the wrong function much later after spending a long time fighting with gdb. Since then I use this extensively and avoid using.

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Pierre Gradot •

I understand your pain...