On Apr 28, 2011, at 04:34 AM, Terry Reedy wrote: >On 4/28/2011 3:54 AM, Tarek Ziadé wrote: >> Hello >> >> I removed some assert calls in distutils some time ago because the >> package was not behaving correctly when people were using Python with >> the --optimize flag. In other words, assert became a full part of the >> code logic and removing them via -O was changing the behavior. >> >> In my opinion assert should be avoided completely anywhere else than >> in the tests. If this is a wrong statement, please let me know why :)
>My understanding is that assert can be used in production code but only to >catch logic errors by testing supposed invariants or postconditions. It >should not be used to test usage errors, including preconditions. In other >words, assert presence or absence should not affect behavior unless the code >has a bug. I would agree. Use asserts for "this can't possibly happen <wink>" conditions. -Barry
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