[Python-ideas] Runtime assertion with no overhead when not active

[Eloi Gaudry]

On Tue, 2018-05-08 at 09:35 -0400, Eric V. Smith wrote:
> On 5/8/2018 3:37 AM, Eloi Gaudry wrote:
> > On Mon, 2018-05-07 at 16:56 +0000, Brett Cannon wrote:
> > > 
> > > My question is how is this different to running with -O which
> > > leaves
> > > the assert statement out of the bytecode and so you avoid any
> > > run-
> > > time cost of the statement entirely?
> > 
> > Not so much different, except that:
> > - the switch won't need to be on the command line
> 
> So, is the switch set in code? If so, what would that look like?
> 
> Eric
So far, I only have the "extension" method, where a global variable is
set directly from within the C-interface, as currently done with the
debug assert:

Include/pydebug.h : int Py_RuntimeAssertFlag = 1;
Your_extension/main.c : SetFlag(Py_RuntimeAssertFlag);