Clarity vs. code reuse/generality

[Ethan Furman]

kj wrote:
> 
> My scientific code is jam-packed with assertions.  I can't count
> the number of times that one such lowly assertion saved me from a
> silent but potentially disastrous bug. 

Now imagine that asserts had been disabled for that run...

The issue is not "should you validate your inputs", the issue is "do you 
want your validation able to be turned off?"

~Ethan~