Re: [boost] [numeric/interval] Usage of assert.

From: Guillaume Melquiond (guillaume.melquiond_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-09-20 05:47:20

Le jeudi 20 septembre 2007 à 09:40 +0200, Markus Schöpflin a écrit :
> Hello,
> 
> I just committed a small fix to arith2.hpp, adding a missing #include 
> <cassert> to the header. This fixes the current breakage of the trunk on Tru64.

Thanks.

> When adding this include I was wondering why interval doesn't use 
> BOOST_ASSERT? Is there any specific reason for this?

There are mostly two reasons (be they good or bad). First, BOOST_ASSERT
is not that old. At the time the interval library was designed, there
was no consensus that all the Boost libraries shall use BOOST_ASSERT.
(Is there one now?)

Second, most of the assertions in the interval library are for detecting
invariants internally violated, while BOOST_ASSERT is meant to detect
preconditions a library user did not respect, as far as I understand.
That being said, the assertion in arith2.hpp is precisely meant to
detect a misuse of the library, so this one should be BOOST_ASSERT
actually. Thanks for pointing it out, I will review the various uses of
assert in the new interval library.

Best regards,

Guillaume