Why assert is not a function?

[Hexamorph]

Am 03.03.2021 um 00:24 schrieb Chris Angelico:
> On Wed, Mar 3, 2021 at 10:22 AM Mirko via Python-list
> <python-list at python.org> wrote:
>>
>> Am 02.03.2021 um 23:09 schrieb Stestagg:
>>> Ignoring the question about this feature being particularly useful, it
>>
>> It is useful because "assert" is primarily (if not purely and
>> exclusive) a debugging tool during development and testing.
>>
>> In production code you don't want any asserts, but logging. Having
>> "assert" being a function would make it much harder to get rid of it
>> in production code.
>>
>
> Really?

Yes.

> if PRODUCTION:
>     def assert(*a, **kw): pass
>
> would work if it were a function :)

With the "if PRODUCTION" being superfluously in the production code
(not to mention the possible NameError otherwise).