"Ary Borenszweig" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Now, if you compile in release mode, according to Walter, all the
"asserts" are gone (which, as a side note, is something I don't like: in
every case it should throw an AssertError). So the question is: can the
compiler still replace that writeln call? It should, but since there's
nothing there preventing x + y to be different than 3 (the assertion is
gone), the compiler can't replace it anymore.
That's the whole point - the compiler theoretically can optimize as if the
assert is checked.
(This example uses assert(0) because this behaviour is actually in the spec)
if (x != 3) assert(0);
if (x == 3) deleteAllMyFiles();
The compiler is allowed to treat assert(0) as unreachable - and if it's
unreachable then it must be impossible for x to be != 3.
So it becomes:
deleteAllMyFiles();
He's asking for assert to mean 'check this condition' and assume to mean
'optimize as if this is a mathematical identity'.
