TypeScript Enums and Generics: Simplified

How to use Enums and Generics

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Two essential features that TypeScript provides are enums and generics. Enums allow you to define a set of named constants, while generics provide a way to create flexible and reusable code components.

Understanding Enums

Enums, short for enumerations, allow you to define a set of named numeric constants. They make your code more expressive and self-documenting, especially when dealing with a fixed set of values.

Let’s say you’re working on a project that involves days of the week. Instead of using plain strings or numbers, you can use an enum to define these days:

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

// Using the enum values
const today: DaysOfWeek = DaysOfWeek.Wednesday;
console.log(`Today is ${DaysOfWeek[today]}`);

In this example, we’ve defined an enum called DaysOfWeek with the days of the week as its members. Enums start indexing from 0 by default, so DaysOfWeek.Wednesday corresponds to the value 3. You can access the name of an enum member using DaysOfWeek[today].

Enums are a great way to ensure that you’re using valid values, and they improve code readability.