Enum.Equals vs ==

Question

Hi, I have another newbie question. I was looking at documentation for the 'Enum.Equals()' method at the msdn2 website, Enum, and I was wondering what is the difference between using something like;

   enum Mammals { Cat, Dog, Horse, Dolphin };
   Mammals myPet = Mammals.Cat;
   Mammals yourPet = Mammals.Dog;
   if (myPet.Equals(yourPet))
   {
   }

   // and this statement
   if (myPet == yourPet)
   {
   }

Does one method have an advantage over the other? At the msdn2 website they don't even mention "==" in the documentation. Which method is the acceptable standard and considered a best practice?

Thanks,

Erica

Answer 1

Enum.Equals is declared as "bool Equals(object)" which means that enum value passed in would need to be boxed & unboxed.  oper== is just directly comparing the two underlying values of the enum.

Answer 2

Hi,

The signature of the enum.Equals is

public override bool Equals (Object obj)

So you can put any object type into it, event like this: myPet.Equals(label1) -- it returns false.

However, if you use myPet == label1, it will pop compile error.

And myPet.Equals(0) will return true while myPet==0 will also pop compile error. (two types beside == must be the same)

More reference about enum type: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sbbt4032.aspx

Thank you