launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Julian Edwards <julian.edwards@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thursday 03 May 2012 15:22:56 Jonathan Lange wrote:
> > Enums are nearly always better than a bool. I've lost count of the number
> > of times I've seen loads of mutually exclusive bools because people
> > didn't plan ahead.
> 
> Or because people didn't update existing bools to enums when they
> decided they needed a new mutually existing one. It's not that we
> don't plan ahead, it's that we often don't update code when the
> situation or our understanding changes.

Updating a bool to an enum is not trivial and requires a database migration, 
potentially of millions of rows.  The path of least resistance at that point 
is to add more bools.

> If we add this as an enum, it will only have two fields. Some time
> from now, someone unfamiliar with this conversation will look and ask
> "Why is this an enum? It only has two fields" and then they'll switch
> it to be a boolean.

I really doubt that.  Especially when you add a comment to explain the 
potential use of the enum.  You comment your code, right? :)

I really don't understand the reticence to use enums instead of bools, there 
is zero harm in doing so.