When you have to bound or limit the input type or you have fixed input you can implement enum, instead of using open ended Strings,number or constants.
What is Enum ?
Enum in Java is a keyword, a feature which is used to represent fixed number of well known values in Java, For example Number of days in Week, Number of planets in Solar system etc. Enumeration (Enum) in Java was introduced in JDK 1.5 and it is one of my favorite features of J2SE 5 among Autoboxing and unboxing , Generics, varargs and static import. Java Enum as type is more suitable on certain cases for example representing state of Order as NEW, PARTIAL FILL, FILL or CLOSED. Enumeration(Enum) was not originally available in Java though it was available in other language like C and C++ but eventually Java realized and introduced Enum on JDK 5 (Tiger) by keyword Enum.
