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I was just curious what the recommended practice is when it comes to dealing with run-time errors. I have seen assert() used but I thought I read that it is not good practice to use assertions because they might not work with some compilers. Is is better to us the try/catch method? Thanks in advance
You might want to be more specific when talking about run-time errors, e.g., provide some examples of what you are talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by waterborne
I have never heard of such reasoning. Assertions would be inappropriate if you actually need to handle the error rather than just detect it. In a program optimised for release, assertions may be disabled, so they should be considered a (proactive) debugging tool.Quote:
Originally Posted by waterborne
It depends. For example, you might use an assertion to check for a pre-condition violation in a function that is just implementation detail, but you might throw an exception for a pre-condition violation in a function that is part of the interface.Quote:
Originally Posted by waterborne
I guess I meant along the lines of opening a file and checking to make sure it actually opened. Things of that nature. It seems like there are a lot of different ways to do that but I have a feeling there is a "preferred" method. Does that make sense?
In such a case, throwing an exception or returning an error code would be more appropriate than an assertion, since this is not a logic error, but a routine run-time error. In fact, because it is arguably an "expected error", some would shun throwing an exception as handling it could be considered part of the normal execution of the program. But this is debatable.
Asserts are good to detect bugs or things "that should never be" in your code. They as a means of debugging whereas exceptions are a means of controlling the logic in your program.
Thanks for the clarification - that makes a lot of sense.