Which type would you use to represent a single digit `[0-9]`? :one: Int :two: UInt :three: Byte :fou...

# getting-started

[Mark]

Which type would you use to represent a single digit [0-9]?
1️⃣ Int
2️⃣ UInt
3️⃣ Byte
4️⃣ Short
5️⃣ value class of Int
6️⃣ value class of UInt
7️⃣ value class of Byte
8️⃣ value class of Short
9️⃣ value class of Char

I suppose we already have the Kotlin answer, which is Char.digitToInt(): Int

[Chris Lee]

Depends on the context. If it is the character representation, Char ; if it is truly a number (escape code, binary protocol, etc) then Byte may be a better choice. All depends on what it represents and how it will be used.

[Mark]

Hmm, difficult to answer this question. I would say it’s a number that is often represented as a character. EDIT - actually thinking about this more, in my context the digit is more of a code to represent something else. There is no sense of +1 etc. Although my use case is not this, think of something like a numeric options menu

[ephemient]

BCD

[Ruckus]

An enum, which then allows extending intro the integers with List<Digit>

[Joffrey]

If you don't want arithmetic and your numbers are effectively just an ordered set of independent values, I would also probably go with the enum. But yeah it really depends on the use case. A value class backed by a Byte is also a good option

[ephemient]

(until we get support for value arrays, there's no real difference at runtime between a value class Digit(digit: Byte) and a value class Digit(digit: Int))

[ephemient]

it could be interesting if Kotlin were to gain value enum class in the future, to combine the benefits of enum class (bounded values) with a value class (primitive representation), but for now there's just different trade-offs

[Mark]

A value enum class would make sense for my use case, but as it is enum class feels like overkill.