Java: Enum vs. Int

Question

When using flags in Java, I have seen two main approaches. One uses int values and a line of if-else statements. The other is to use enums and case-switch statements.

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Answer 1

You may even use Enums to replace those bitwise combined flags like int flags = FLAG_1 | FLAG_2;

Instead you can use a typesafe EnumSet:

Set flags = EnumSet.of(FlagEnum.FLAG_1, FlagEnum.FLAG_2);

// then simply test with contains()
if(flags.contains(FlagEnum.FLAG_1)) ...

The documentation states that those classes are internally optimized as bit vectors and that the implementation should be perform well enough to replace the int-based flags.