Java Enum Type Coding Convention

Question

I have an enum type...

public static enum Methods {
    NOTEQUAL,
    ORDERED,
    minMatch,
    minItem,
    minLength,
    sameLength,
}

The question is how should I use the coding convention. Should I use camelCase NotEqual (wich I use in a simple class) or should I do like this: NOT_EQUAL? Or simply use uppercase characters: NOTEQUAL, SAMELENGTH?

Is there some code convention for this?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3069743/coding-conventions-naming-enums have a look on that topic. — Alex Stybaev, May 07 '12 at 13:46
Ok, so the answer is "_" mark and high case i know i should use name like constants, but i didn't know how to articulation the name... — czupe, May 07 '12 at 13:49
Anyway thank you Alex Stybaev and Alexender Pavlov, and not the exact duplicate, because the question was about how to !!!articulate!! the enums... — czupe, May 07 '12 at 13:54
In this page from the official website of Java, constants should be capitalized by convention: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html — Vincent Cantin, Jul 08 '13 at 06:55
@AlexanderPavlov It's not an exact duplicate, though very similar: This question focuses on enum *instances*, while the question you linked focused on the enums themselves. — Nolan Akash, May 30 '16 at 20:34
@MathManiac: right, thanks for pointing out. I must have been looking at its top answer, which dealt both with enums and values together. — Alexander Pavlov, Jun 13 '16 at 13:10

score 50 · Accepted Answer · answered May 07 '12 at 13:45

50

I would say that the enum itself, since it's a class, should follow the camel case convention as every class, while the entries of enum, since they are constants, should be upper case with underscore (eg. NOT_EQUAL).

The version uppercase without underscore is absolutely unreadable, never use it.

answered May 07 '12 at 13:45

Jack

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And the class name is usually singular (-> "Method" not "Methods") – Puce May 07 '12 at 13:59
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Just for future reference, the [java people agree](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html): `Because they are constants, the names of an enum type's fields are in uppercase letters.` – Lucas Dec 19 '12 at 22:25

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

3

See the following discussion:

Coding Conventions - Naming Enums

My own point of view is that enum is like constants so they should be all uppercase.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

Community

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answered May 07 '12 at 13:47

pringi

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An enum is quite certainly not like a constant, it is a type, like a class. The enumerated values could be considered to be like constants (if that's what you meant you should correct your wording). A variable of an enum type could be considered to be a constant, if declared final. – EricS Jan 03 '18 at 20:14

Java Enum Type Coding Convention

2 Answers2