Why can I anonymously subclass an enum but not a final class?

Question

This code:

public class Sandbox {
    public enum E {
        VALUE {
            @Override
            public String toString() {
                return \"I         


        

Answer 1

I think if you compare classes and enums, then the enum E can be compared to a class, and the enum value VALUE can be compared to an anonymous instance. Thus, your first example can be rewritten as following:

public class Sandbox {
    public static class E {
        public static final E VALUE = new E() {
            @Override
            public String toString() {
                return "I'm the value";
            }
        };

        @Override
        public String toString() {
           return "I'm the enum";
       }
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(E.VALUE);
    }
}