How to implement Enums in Ruby?

I think the best way to implement enumeration like types is with symbols since the pretty much behave as integer (when it comes to performace, object_id is used to make comparisons ); you don't need to worry about indexing and they look really neat in your code xD

Another way to mimic an enum with consistent equality handling (shamelessly adopted from Dave Thomas). Allows open enums (much like symbols) and closed (predefined) enums.

class Enum
  def self.new(values = nil)
    enum = Class.new do
      unless values
        def self.const_missing(name)
          const_set(name, new(name))
        end
      end

      def initialize(name)
        @enum_name = name
      end

      def to_s
        "#{self.class}::#@enum_name"
      end
    end

    if values
      enum.instance_eval do
        values.each { |e| const_set(e, enum.new(e)) }
      end
    end

    enum
  end
end

Genre = Enum.new %w(Gothic Metal) # creates closed enum
Architecture = Enum.new           # creates open enum

Genre::Gothic == Genre::Gothic        # => true
Genre::Gothic != Architecture::Gothic # => true