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This class is for all enumerated and/or coded values. For example, it contains the dimension objects that are the basis elements in some abstract vector space associated with a quantity kind system. Another use is for the base dimensions for quantity systems. Each quantity kind system that defines a base set has a corresponding ordered enumeration whose elements are the dimension objects for the base quantity kinds. The order of the dimensions in the enumeration determines the canonical order of the basis elements in the corresponding abstract vector space.

An enumeration is a set of literals from which a single value is selected. Each literal can have a tag as an integer within a standard encoding appropriate to the range of integer values. Consistency of enumeration types will allow them, and the enumerated values, to be referred to unambiguously either through symbolic name or encoding. Enumerated values are also controlled vocabularies and as such need to be standardized. Without this consistency enumeration literals can be stated differently and result in data conflicts and misinterpretations.

The tags are a set of positive whole numbers, not necessarily contiguous and having no numerical significance, each corresponding to the associated literal identifier. An order attribute can also be given on the enumeration elements. An enumeration can itself be a member of an enumeration. This allows enumerations to be enumerated in a selection. Enumerations are also subclasses of Scalar Datatype. This allows them to be used as the reference of a datatype specification.