Why use int in an enum declaration?

Question

What is the point of using : int in an enumeration declaration as follows:

public enum AAType : int { Folder = 0, File = 1, Link = 2 } 

Answer 1

The default support type enum is int . You can change the type of support to something else, such as short or long . An int possible, just for clarity.

Answer 2

The enum type is int default, so by explicitly specifying it you can (possibly) get clarity, but the behavior was the same as if : int were omitted.

Answer 3

The fact that Enum is a specialized Int, you can use bytes for each Enum value (Apple = 1, Pear = 2, Orange = 4), and then you can pass Enums in Piped and determine what to do based on the byte (look at Reflection.BindingFlags, etc.).