From: Kenneth McDonald <kenneth.m.mcdonald@...>
Date: 2007-08-02T10:51:43+09:00
Subject: Is there a standard "assert" idiom in Ruby?

If you saw an earlier version of this question, apologies...I haven't 
seen it, so assume I accidentally deleted it or it got lost or some such.

In other languages, I'm accustomed to using "assert" as a sort of 
enforceable documentation. Is there an equivalent statement or idiom in 
Ruby? I find that simply raising exceptions isn't quite right; 
exceptions are normally used when one thinks something might be done 
about a problem, whereas asserts are used to check that something is the 
way it always should be. An 'assert' makes this point in the code. On a 
lazier note, an 'assert' also needs less typing :-).

I know I could define an assert myself, but something like that should 
be universally, easily understood, not custom.

So, is there such an idiom that people use in place of an 'assert' 
statement?


Thanks,
Ken