enumitüübi

An enumitüübi, often shortened to enum, is a special data type in programming that allows for a set of named constants. Think of it as a way to define a group of related values that are all of the same underlying type, typically an integer. Each name within the enum is assigned a unique value, making the code more readable and less prone to errors compared to using raw numbers.

For example, instead of using the integer `0` to represent "Monday" and `1` for "Tuesday" in a program, you could define an enum called `DaysOfWeek` with constants like `MONDAY`, `TUESDAY`, and so on. This makes the intent of the code much clearer. When you refer to `DaysOfWeek.MONDAY`, it's immediately obvious what you mean.

Enums help improve code maintainability because if you need to change the underlying values of the constants, you only need to modify them in one place – the enum definition. This prevents inconsistencies that could arise from manually updating multiple scattered integer values. Many programming languages support enums, including Java, C#, Swift, and others, each with slight variations in their implementation.