How to disable assert statements inside a module?

[Pearu Peterson]

Hi,

Is there a way to disable all assert statements inside a module,
and without calling python with -O switch?

Why? I have developed a module using lots of assert statements (yes,
they are all relevant). Now when it is finished, I found that
running python with -O switch the speed up is approximately 4 times. I
assume that this is due to disabled assert statements. I don't want to
remove all these assert statements because I might extend this module in
future when they will be handy again for debugging.

Next, I want to use this module from other modules that use it
extensively. But then, I would expect a remarkable slow down because of
the irrelevant assert statements in the first module.

So, I would like to disable the assert statements in one module while in
others, that are under development, assert statements are enabled.
Is it possible? I am using Python 2.2.

Thanks,
	Pearu