--- "linda.s" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Python manual has a very brief introduction of > "assert" statements. It > is very difficult for me to understand it.
Every program has some fundamental assumptions that must remain true in order for the program to continue giving correct results. The assert statement is used to verify those assumptions. (The optional 2nd parameter can be used to give additional information about what went wrong.) For example, in my world no one is allowed to have a negative age. A negative age means my program is hopelessly confused and should halt immediately. >>> myAge=42 >>> assert myAge>=0 ## this is OK >>> myAge= -1 ## logically impossible >>> assert myAge >= 0 Traceback (most recent call last): File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ? AssertionError ## here I print the condition that failed >>> assert myAge >=0, 'myAge >= 0' Traceback (most recent call last): File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ? AssertionError: myAge >= 0 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
