[Python-Dev] AutoNumber Enum (original) (raw)

Ethan Furman ethan at stoneleaf.us
Wed Jun 29 13:40:40 EDT 2016

There is a several-month-old request to add aenum's [1] AutoNumberEnum to the stdlib [2].

The requester and two of the three developers of Enum are in favor (the third hasn't chimed in yet).

This new addition would enable the following:

from Enum import AutoNumberEnum

class Color(AutoNumberEnum): # auto-number magic is on Red Green Blue Cyan # magic turns off when non-enum is defined

   def is_primary(self):
       # typos in methods, etc, will raise
       return self in (self.Red, self.Grene, self.Blue)

   # typos after the initial definition stanza will raise
   BlueGreen = Blue + Grene

There is, of course, the risk of typos during the initial member definition stanza, but since this magic only happens when the user explicitly asks for it (AutoNumberEnum), I think it is acceptable.

The start parameter is still available, and assigning a number is supported (subsequent numbers will (re)start from the assigned number).

Thoughts? Opinions? Flames?

-- Ethan

[1] https://pypi.python.org/pypi/aenum [2] http://bugs.python.org/issue26988

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