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From: Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com>
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Subject: Re: Contract checking in Ada
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Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 20:19:03 GMT
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Randy Brukardt wrote:
> The problem is that assertions of all stripes (like runtime checks) detect
> unanticipated conditions before much damage is done. And no one antipicates
> (and thus tests) every possible issue.

But in detecting those unanticipated conditions, they do maximum damage.
We've had this discussion before. If some operation raises Constraint
Error or Program Error, or fails some other assertion, the action usually
taken is to abort the program. That can mean losing unsaved work, or just
rendering a program unusable where it might otherwise muddle through and
continue working even thiugh it has done something illegal.