Doubt on Enums

[Swati Khanna]

in the java tutorial by sun-
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html
The Note says:"The constructor for an enum type must be package-private or private access. "
Can somebody explain this.

[Collins Mbianda]

Hi Swati !!!

The constructor for an enum type must be package-private or private access. It automatically creates the constants that are defined at the beginning of the enum body. You cannot invoke an enum constructor yourself.

That means that you can NEVER invoke an enum constructor directly. The enum constructor is invoked automatcally.

public enum Direction {
 
EAST("HELLO"), WEST("HI"), NORTH("HELLO"), SOUTH("HI");
 
String side;
 
private Direction(String d) {
side = d;
}
 
}

For example EAST("HELLO") invokes the Direction's constructor.
You cannot use new to create a new Direction.