[Python-Dev] are NULL checks in Objects/abstract.c really needed? (original) (raw)

Jeremy Hylton jeremy@zope.com
13 Mar 2003 15:01:03 -0500

On Thu, 2003-03-13 at 14:15, Raymond Hettinger wrote:

> > i had a quick look at Objects/abstract.c in 2.2.2's source. almost > > every function there checks whether the objects it's passed are not > > NULL. if they are, SystemError exception occurs. since i've never come > > across such exception i've commented out those checks.

> Unfortunately, this is part of the safety net for poor extension > writers, and I'm not sure we can drop it. Can we get most of the same benefit by using an assert() rather than NULL-->SystemError?

No. assert() causes the program to fail. SystemError() raises an exception and lets the program keep going. Those are vastly different effects.

Jeremy