C# vs Java Enum (for those new to C#)

Question

I've been programming in Java for a while and just got thrown onto a project that's written entirely in C#. I'm trying to come up to speed in C#, and noticed enums used in several places in my new project, but at first glance, C#'s enums seem to be more simplistic than the Java 1.5+ implementation. Can anyone enumerate the differences between C# and Java enums, and how to overcome the differences? (I don't want to start a language flame war, I just want to know how to do some things in C# that I used to do in Java). For example, could someone post a C# counterpart to Sun's famous Planet enum example?

public enum Planet {
  MERCURY (3.303e+23, 2.4397e6),
  VENUS   (4.869e+24, 6.0518e6),
  EARTH   (5.976e+24, 6.37814e6),
  MARS    (6.421e+23, 3.3972e6),
  JUPITER (1.9e+27,   7.1492e7),
  SATURN  (5.688e+26, 6.0268e7),
  URANUS  (8.686e+25, 2.5559e7),
  NEPTUNE (1.024e+26, 2.4746e7),
  PLUTO   (1.27e+22,  1.137e6);

  private final double mass;   // in kilograms
  private final double radius; // in meters
  Planet(double mass, double radius) {
      this.mass = mass;
      this.radius = radius;
  }
  public double mass()   { return mass; }
  public double radius() { return radius; }

  // universal gravitational constant  (m3 kg-1 s-2)
  public static final double G = 6.67300E-11;

  public double surfaceGravity() {
      return G * mass / (radius * radius);
  }
  public double surfaceWeight(double otherMass) {
      return otherMass * surfaceGravity();
  }
}

// Example usage (slight modification of Sun's example):
public static void main(String[] args) {
    Planet pEarth = Planet.EARTH;
    double earthRadius = pEarth.radius(); // Just threw it in to show usage

    // Argument passed in is earth Weight.  Calculate weight on each planet:
    double earthWeight = Double.parseDouble(args[0]);
    double mass = earthWeight/pEarth.surfaceGravity();
    for (Planet p : Planet.values())
       System.out.printf("Your weight on %s is %f%n",
                         p, p.surfaceWeight(mass));
}

// Example output:
$ java Planet 175
Your weight on MERCURY is 66.107583
Your weight on VENUS is 158.374842
[etc ...]

Answer 1

Enumerations in the CLR are simply named constants. The underlying type must be integral. In Java an enumeration is more like a named instance of a type. That type can be quite complex and - as your example shows - contain multiple fields of various types.

To port the example to C# I would just change the enum to an immutable class and expose static readonly instances of that class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Planet planetEarth = Planet.MERCURY;

            double earthRadius = pEarth.Radius; // Just threw it in to show usage
            double earthWeight = double.Parse("123");
            double earthMass   = earthWeight / pEarth.SurfaceGravity();

            foreach (Planet p in Planet.Values)
                Console.WriteLine($"Your weight on {p} is {p.SurfaceWeight(mass)}");

            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }

    public class Planet
    {
        public static readonly Planet MERCURY = new Planet("Mercury", 3.303e+23, 2.4397e6);
        public static readonly Planet VENUS   = new Planet("Venus", 4.869e+24, 6.0518e6);
        public static readonly Planet EARTH   = new Planet("Earth", 5.976e+24, 6.37814e6);
        public static readonly Planet MARS    = new Planet("Mars", 6.421e+23, 3.3972e6);
        public static readonly Planet JUPITER = new Planet("Jupiter", 1.9e+27, 7.1492e7);
        public static readonly Planet SATURN  = new Planet("Saturn", 5.688e+26, 6.0268e7);
        public static readonly Planet URANUS  = new Planet("Uranus", 8.686e+25, 2.5559e7);
        public static readonly Planet NEPTUNE = new Planet("Neptune", 1.024e+26, 2.4746e7);
        public static readonly Planet PLUTO   = new Planet("Pluto", 1.27e+22, 1.137e6);

        public static IEnumerable<Planet> Values
        {
            get
            {
                yield return MERCURY;
                yield return VENUS;
                yield return EARTH;
                yield return MARS;
                yield return JUPITER;
                yield return SATURN;
                yield return URANUS;
                yield return NEPTUNE;
                yield return PLUTO;
            }
        }

        public string Name   { get; private set; }
        public double Mass   { get; private set; }
        public double Radius { get; private set; }

        Planet(string name, double mass, double radius) => 
            (Name, Mass, Radius) = (name, mass, radius);

        // Wniversal gravitational constant  (m3 kg-1 s-2)
        public const double G = 6.67300E-11;
        public double SurfaceGravity()            => G * mass / (radius * radius);
        public double SurfaceWeight(double other) => other * SurfaceGravity();
        public override string ToString()         => name;
    }
}