enum
Class Suit

java.lang.Object
  enum.Suit

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.lang.Comparable

public final class Suit

extends java.lang.Object

implements java.lang.Comparable

Simple class demonstrating how to create an ordinal based typesafe enum based around the suits in a deck of cards. There are four possible values in the enum's range:
HEARTS
CLUBS
SPADES
DIAMONDS

The big idea here is that you use this algorithm in place of using constant declarations.
For examples use this:

Suit mySuit = getSuit();
if(mySuit == Suit.DIAMONDS) {
// Do Something
}

and DON'T use
// Some Where in your code...
private static final String DIAMONDS = "diamonds";
private static final String HEARTS = "hearts";
private static final String CLUBS = "clubs";
private static final String SPADES = "spades";

:
:
String mySuit = getSuit();
if(mySuit.equals(DIAMONDS)) {
// Do something...
}


Note the use of the private constructor limiting you to the four suit types. you can't do:

Suit mySuit = new Suit("Wobbles");


... and the use of the final keyword so it's no to:

public class mySuit extends Suit {


Field Summary

static Suit	CLUBS Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars.
static Suit	DIAMONDS Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars.
static Suit	HEARTS Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars.
private java.lang.String	name Somewhere to hold the name of the suit - "diamonds", "clubs" etc.
private static int	nextOrdinal Ordinal of the next suit to be created
private int	ordinal Assign the next ordinal to this suit
static Suit	SPADES Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars.

Constructor Summary

private

Suit(java.lang.String name) Constructor - Pass in the name of the Suit.

Method Summary

int	compareTo(java.lang.Object o) Compare the input parameter to this Suit class.
static void	main(java.lang.String[] args) main Holds sample code that could be used in any client of an enum class The whole point of this is that you can used a == symbol to compare objects.
java.lang.String	toString() Override toString() returning the Suit's name

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

name

private final java.lang.String name

Somewhere to hold the name of the suit - "diamonds", "clubs" etc.

nextOrdinal

private static int nextOrdinal

Ordinal of the next suit to be created

ordinal

private final int ordinal

Assign the next ordinal to this suit

CLUBS

public static final Suit CLUBS

Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars. Possible values are clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds.

HEARTS

public static final Suit HEARTS

Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars. Possible values are clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds.

SPADES

public static final Suit SPADES

Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars. Possible values are clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds.

DIAMONDS

public static final Suit DIAMONDS

Four values for Suit are created at construction time and allocated to public member vars. Possible values are clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds.

Constructor Detail

Suit

private Suit(java.lang.String name)

Constructor - Pass in the name of the Suit. I guess that a more complex app should test the inputs for validity

Method Detail

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

Override toString() returning the Suit's name

Returns:

the name of the suit.

compareTo

public int compareTo(java.lang.Object o)

Compare the input parameter to this Suit class. Return the difference.

Specified by:

compareTo in interface java.lang.Comparable

Returns:

int the difference between the two suits, zero if the same

main

public static void main(java.lang.String[] args)

main Holds sample code that could be used in any client of an enum class The whole point of this is that you can used a == symbol to compare objects. Of course, this example is very Mickey Mouse.