Typedef an enum value in C++

Question

I have a base class that has an enum value that I am using in the derived class. The base class is a Table<> and the derived class is a Matrix<>. Now the enum value in Table<> is TABLE_SIZE which is used in the Matrix<> class. Since TABLE_SIZE does not make a lot of sense (it does a little!) in the matrix class, I thought I would typedef it to something more consistent with Matrix<> (MATRIX_SIZE).

typedef TABLE_SIZE MATRIX_SIZE;

That didn't work, which was a bit surprising. I am guessing I can't typedef the value because the enumeration is a type but not the values (not sure if that is a correct observation)?. So, now the question is, how-do-I/can-I accomplish the above?

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is that I do not want the Matrix class to increase in size (yes I realize it is a tiny increase and wouldn't matter for most people, in my case, it does).

Answer 1

You can define an enumeration: enum { MATRIX_SIZE = TABLE_SIZE };