[boost] A better assert()

From: Dan W. (danw_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-01-02 18:19:26

While talking about Invariants, DBC, assertions and exceptions in 
another thread, the subject came up of how useless assert() appears to 
be, in that it terminates the program.
What I always do in my coding is to have a global function...

void landing_strip()
{
   nop();
   nop();
   nop();
}

... defining my own assert() that calls it upon evaluating to false, and 
placing a break in the middle nop(); (3 for breaking distance :)

I thought of using a coded break within my assert, but opted not to 
because that might slow down execution in the debugger (having too many 
break addresses to compare at each step).

In this way, instead of terminating, the code stops at the landing 
strip, and all I have to do is click on the previous stack level to get 
back to the caller. Works like a charm, and I bet I'm not the only one 
using this trick.

Would it make sense to generalize this and offer it as an alternative to 
the standard assert()?  Maybe call it "ensure()"?

dan