Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #3863

Re: About using assertion

From	Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject	Re: About using assertion
Date	2011-05-09 09:01 -0700
Organization	Canadian Mind Products
Message-ID	<hp3gs6dun3691h96q13jsb6sb4pu0rrvrp@4ax.com> (permalink)
References	<f1e4cc83-8596-4e53-bed7-34a5209fe8c4@k3g2000prl.googlegroups.com> <09cb7d90-9b79-473e-9869-4476c5a0191a@w24g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>

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On Mon, 9 May 2011 08:24:16 -0700 (PDT), Robert Klemme
<shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted
someone who said :

>Having said that I'd say that argument checking is probably more
>important than assertions.

Assertions should not be used to validate user-provided data. They
need to be in effect all the time.  Assertions about detecting bugs in
the program, mis use of a method.

Assertions, even though they hide it he body of method, are
documentation on just what sorts of thing the method can do. 
in a simple case, you might assert that a SQRT method can only handle
non-negative numbers.
-- 
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com
How long did it take after the car was invented before owners understood 
cars would not work unless you regularly changed the oil and the tires?
We have gone 33 years and still it is rare to uncover a user who 
understands computers don't work without regular backups.

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Thread

About using assertion byhesed <byhesed@gmail.com> - 2011-05-09 07:36 -0700
  Re: About using assertion Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-05-09 08:24 -0700
    Re: About using assertion Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-05-09 09:01 -0700
      Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-09 12:11 -0400
        Re: About using assertion Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-05-09 22:17 +0200
          Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-09 18:49 -0400
            Re: About using assertion Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-05-10 07:23 +0200
            Re: About using assertion Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-05-10 06:45 -0300
              Re: About using assertion Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2011-05-10 13:29 +0000
                Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-10 11:21 -0400
                Re: About using assertion Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2011-05-10 16:01 +0000
                Re: About using assertion RedGrittyBrick <RedGrittyBrick@spamweary.invalid> - 2011-05-10 17:26 +0100
                Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-10 13:25 -0400
                Re: About using assertion Daniele Futtorovic <da.futt.news@laposte-dot-net.invalid> - 2011-05-10 21:15 +0200
          Re: About using assertion tmcd@tmcd-p4-linux.austin.tx.us (Tim McDaniel) - 2011-05-19 00:32 -0500
            Re: About using assertion Michal Kleczek <kleku75@gmail.com> - 2011-05-19 08:34 +0200
              Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-19 08:46 -0400
                Re: About using assertion Michal Kleczek <kleku75@gmail.com> - 2011-05-19 15:16 +0200
                Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-19 09:38 -0400
                Re: About using assertion Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-05-19 07:41 -0700
                Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-19 11:00 -0400
            Re: About using assertion Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-05-19 05:52 -0700
  Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-09 11:35 -0400
  Re: About using assertion markspace <-@.> - 2011-05-09 11:40 -0700
    Re: About using assertion Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2011-05-09 14:53 -0400

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