[Python-Dev] 2.4 vs Windows vs bsddb (original) (raw)

Tim Peters tim.peters at gmail.com
Wed Oct 11 03:20:00 CEST 2006


[Tim]

Given that, the assert() in question looks fine to me: ... |>> Either that, or the original author (and me, just above) made an error in analyzing what must be true at this point. | [David Hopwood] You omitted to state an assumption that sizeof(errTxt) >= 4, since sizet (and the constant 4) are unsigned. Also bytesleft must initially be nonnegative so that the subexpression 'sizeof(errTxt) - bytesleft' cannot overflow.

I don't care, but that's really the /point/: asserts are valuable precisely because any inference that's not utterly obvious at first glance at best stands a good chance of relying on hidden assumptions. assert() makes key assumptions and key inferences visible, and verifies them in a debug build of Python.



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