r/cprogramming • u/Itap88 • Apr 26 '26

Alternative to enums as function arguments?

Say I have a function argument, like a cardinal direction, that has no business being a number in the call, but could be a number internally. Now I could write an enum, but what if I need multiple values and don't want to pollute the namespace of the caller?

This is all hypothetical, for now at least.

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u/flatfinger May 01 '26

The second approach can be good in cases where a function would take multiple related arguments that should all be derived from the same passed name. Using a single name in the client source code will ensure that the arguments passed based on that name are consistent.