The user doesn't necessarily need to have access to the raw numbers I guess, but when it comes down to comparisons/branching etc, numbers are pretty much always going to be fastest and simplest.
And if they are going to be based on numbers underneath, why not let the user/coder/whatever have access to them?
Everything is numbers underneath, so you could ask the same question about all data types. For example, if pointers are going to be based on numbers underneath, why not let the programmer have access to them? Lots of good reasons, actually, which is why most languages don't provide that access. Many of those reasons apply to enumerations too.
Well, you've outed me as a C programmer there I guess :)
I don't really subscribe to the idea that languages should force people onto rails. I love higher level languages for their rapid development of course, and the high level constructs. But there's something about being able to get your hands dirty, right in the guts of a problem...
As an option, it can be handy in some cases (less in Python than C, but still somewhat); requiring that you write them out for all enums, however, is somewhat annoying. C itself gets this right: you can write '= 1' to choose a value or leave it out to assign one automatically, and in either case you can convert to an integer (actually, they're integers in the first place, but that's C).
The user doesn't necessarily need to have access to the raw numbers I guess, but when it comes down to comparisons/branching etc, numbers are pretty much always going to be fastest and simplest.
And if they are going to be based on numbers underneath, why not let the user/coder/whatever have access to them?