[Python-Dev] PEP 435 -- Adding an Enum type to the Python standard library

Ethan Furman ethan at stoneleaf.us
Sat Apr 27 21:47:17 CEST 2013


On 04/27/2013 11:45 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On 27/04/13 12:51, Ethan Furman wrote:
>> On 04/26/2013 07:29 PM, Glenn Linderman wrote:
> [...]
>>> class Color( Enum ):
>>>      Enum.__enumerationItems__(
>>>             red=1,
>>>             green=2,
>>>             blue=3,
>>>             )
>>>      # other methods and assignments
>>
>> Or, if we go with the metaclass magic of re-using the class/type name (and who doesn't love metaclass magic??):
>>
>> class Color(Enum):
>>      red = Color(1)
>>      green = Color(2)
>>      blue = Color 3)
>>      look_ma_not_an_enum = 4
>
>
> and from a later email:
>
>> The solution I like best is the helper class (called, originally enough, enum), and only those items get transformed:
>>
>> class Planet(IntEnum):
>>     MERCURY = enum(1)
>>     VENUS = enum(2)
>>     EARTH = enum(3)
>>     rough_pi = 3     # not transformed
>
>
>
> I'm sorry, but all these suggestions are getting the API completely backwards by making the common case harder than the
> rare case.

I should have made a better example.  In production code, doc strings can be priceless, so encouraging them seems like a 
good idea:

class Planet(IntEnum):
    MERCURY = enum(1, doc='closest planet to the sun (?)')
    VENUS = enum(2, doc='the one with two names')
    EARTH = enum(3, doc='home sweet home')
    random_value = 42

Of course, I think it would be even better if the name were 'Planet' instead of 'enum' as that would emphasize the fact 
that we are actually creating items of the enumeration inside the enumeration.  Kind of a shorthand for:

class Planet(IntEnum):
    def __init__(...):
       ...
    def blahblah(...):
       ...
Planet.MERCURY = Planet(...)
Planet.VENUS = Planet(...)
Planet.EARTH = Planet(...)

which is the way I've done it for other classes in a similar situation.


> We're creating an Enum, right? So the *common case* is to populate it with enum values. 99% of the time, enumerated
> values will be all that we want from an enum. So that's the case that needs to be simple, not the rare case where you
> have a non enum value in an enum class.
>
> The common case (enum values in an Enum class) should be easy, and the rare cases (ordinary class-like attributes)
> possible.
>
> Explicit is better than implicit: if you want something to *not* be processed by the Enum metaclass, you have to
> explicitly mark it as special. Dunders excepted, because they *are* special enough to break the rules. Since dunders are
> reserved for Python, I'm happy with a rule that says that dunders cannot be set as enum values (at least not via the
> metaclass). Otherwise, everything inside an Enum class is treated as an enum value unless explicitly flagged as not.

While I agree that the common case should be simple, I also disagree that everything (especially functions) should 
easily be an enumerated value; the nice thing about being explicit as to which are the values (using 'enum' for example) 
is that it can also be used to capture functions in the rare case where that's what is desired.

--
~Ethan~


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