How Enums Made My Python Code 50% Easier to Understand

If you’re still using plain strings or integers to represent constants in Python, it’s time to level up with Enum.

Aashish Kumar

02 Jul 2025 — 3 min read

I used to pass around strings and integers everywhere — until enums made my code self-documenting.

How Enums Made My Python Code 50% Easier to Understand

A few months ago, I was neck-deep in a Python project involving a lot of user roles, states, and actions — things like "ADMIN", "PENDING", and "ACTIVE". At first glance, everything was working fine. But as the codebase grew, so did the chaos. Strings were misspelled. Magic numbers appeared in conditionals. Refactoring became risky. And worst of all? Reading the code felt like deciphering hieroglyphs.

That’s when I stumbled upon Python’s enum module.

What seemed like a small syntactic tweak turned into a massive quality-of-life upgrade. It didn’t make the code faster — but it made it cleaner, safer, and 50% easier to understand (at least according to my team during a code review 😄).

Here’s how.

What Is an Enum in Python?

An enum, short for enumeration, is a symbolic name for a constant value.

Think of it as a clean way to define a group of related constants.

Instead of doing this:

status = "PENDING" 
if status == "ACTIVE": 
    ...

You can do this:

from enum import Enum 
 
class Status(Enum): 
    PENDING = "pending" 
    ACTIVE = "active" 
 
status = Status.PENDING 
if status == Status.ACTIVE: 
    ...

Why This Change Made My Code Instantly Better

Let me break down exactly how enums helped:

1. No More Magic Strings or Numbers

Strings are error-prone. One typo in "Approved" vs "APPROVED" could lead to silent bugs.

With enums, you define once and reuse safely:

class UserRole(Enum): 
    ADMIN = "admin" 
    MODERATOR = "moderator" 
    VIEWER = "viewer"

And now everywhere in your code, you use:

if user.role == UserRole.ADMIN: 
    grant_full_access()

No typos, no confusion.

2. Autocomplete FTW

When you use strings or integers, your editor can’t help you much.

But with enums?

Most modern editors (VS Code, PyCharm) autocomplete the enum members, making coding faster and less error-prone.

3. Self-Documenting Code

Enums make your code more expressive.

This:

if order.status == 2: 
    ...

Becomes this:

if order.status == OrderStatus.SHIPPED: 
    ...

No one has to guess what 2 means. The intent is clear.

4. Validation Becomes Easy

Let’s say you get input from a user or an API. You can validate it against the enum:

def is_valid_status(value: str) -> bool: 
    return value in Status._value2member_map_

Or even better, raise errors cleanly:

try: 
    status = Status(value) 
except ValueError: 
    raise InvalidStatusError()

5. Cleaner Refactoring & Maintenance

Changing "pending" to "awaiting_approval" used to mean searching the entire codebase. Now, I just update the enum:

class Status(Enum): 
    AWAITING_APPROVAL = "awaiting_approval"

Anywhere Status.AWAITING_APPROVAL is used, the change is safe and consistent.

When You Shouldn’t Use Enums

Enums are fantastic — but not always necessary. Avoid them when:

You’re only using a value once.
You need dynamic or user-defined values.
Performance is critical in tight loops (enums are slightly slower than raw types).

Keep them for when you’re working with finite, well-known, related constants.

Final Thoughts: Small Change, Big Impact

If I could go back and change one thing in my early Python code, it would be this: use enums early and often.

They’ve made my logic more readable, debugging less painful, and my codebase much easier for teammates to navigate. Honestly, it feels like giving names to things that deserve names — and Python is all about clarity and elegance, after all.