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[Python-Dev] [Python-checkins] peps: Pre-alpha draft for PEP 435 (enum). The name is not important at the moment, as

Ethan Furman ethan at stoneleaf.us
Mon Feb 25 20:07:13 CET 2013 
On 02/25/2013 10:49 AM, Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:03:06 -0800
> Eli Bendersky <eliben at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "DOG" > "CAT" invokes lexicographical comparison between two strings, a
>> well-defined and sensical operations. It simply means that in a sorted list
>> of strings, "CAT" will come before "DOG". This is different from an
>> enumeration that attempts to (at least logically) restrict a value to a set
>> of pre-defined entities.
>
> No, it's not different. Like there are use cases for ordered
> comparisons of strings, there are cases for ordered comparisons of
> enums.
> For example, if I have an enum representing SIP or HTTP response codes,
> it is perfectly reasonable to write:
>
>      if code < 200:
>          # temporary response
>          ...
>      elif code < 400:
>          # successful final response
>          ...
>      else:
>          # final error response:
>          ...
>
> Really, there's no justification for claiming an enum should never
> compare to anything else. It's entirely application-dependent.

+1
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