I love assert

[Dan Stromberg]

On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 11:40 AM, Peter Cacioppi
<peter.cacioppi at gmail.com> wrote:
> I get the impression that most Pythonistas aren't as habituated with assert statements as I am. Is that just a misimpression on my part? If not, is there a good reason to assert less with Python than other languages?
>
> As far as I can tell, Python supports assert perfectly well. When run with the optimization flagging, the asserts are truly removed.
>
> I think one needs to take care with some basic assert coding - it's not a substitute for unit tests, it doesn't absolve you of normal exception responsibilities, and, most of all, it should be used for passive inspection and not action. But given these guidelines, I still find it very useful as "active comments".

assert is terrific (stops bugs in their tracks), though many things
should be done with more targeted exceptions.

I guess you could do a survey.