coding-styleenumeration

What are the arguments for using singular vs plural for enumerations?

What are the pros and cons for using singular vs plural when naming enumerations?

I think it makes best sense with plural in the declaration

enum Weekdays
{
    Monday,
    Tuesday,
    Wednesday,
    Thursday,
    Friday,
    Saturday,
    Sunday
}

... but I think it makes more sense with singular when using the type, e.g.

Weekday firstDayOfWeek = Weekday.Monday;

I read a recommendation somewhere to use singular with regular enums and plural with flags, but I would like to hear some more pros and cons.

Solution

  • Here it is straight from Microsoft:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/4x252001(VS.71).aspx

    Use a singular name for most Enum types, but use a plural name for Enum types that are bit fields.