Assertion facility is added in J2SE 1.4. In order to support this facility J2SE 1.4 added the keyword assert to the language, and AssertionError class. An assertion checks a boolean-typed expression that must be true during program runtime execution. The assertion facility can be enabled or disable at runtime.
Declaring Assertion
Assertion statements have two forms as given below
assert expression;
assert expression1 : expression2;
The first form is simple form of assertion, while second form takes another expression. In both of the form boolean expression represents condition that must be evaluate to true runtime.
If the condition evaluates to false and assertions are enabled, AssertionError will be thrown at runtime.
Some examples that use simple assertion form are as follows.
assert value > 5 ;
assert accontBalance > 0;
assert isStatusEnabled();
The expression that has to be asserted runtime must be boolean value. In third example isStatusEnabled() must return boolean value. If condition evaluates to true, execution continues normally, otherwise the AssertionError is thrown.
Following program uses simple form of assertion
//AssertionDemo.java
Class AssertionDemo{
Public static void main(String args[]){
System.out.println( withdrawMoney(1000,500) );
System.out.println( withdrawMoney(1000,2000) );
}
public double withdrawMoney(double balance , double amount){
assert balance >= amount;
return balance ? amount;
}
}
In above given example, main method calls withdrawMoney method with balance and amount as arguments. The withdrawMoney method has a assert statement that checks whether the balance is grater than or equal to amount to be withdrawn. In first call the method will execute without any exception, but in second call it AssertionError is thrown if the assertion is enabled at runtime.
Enable/Disable Assertions
By default assertion are not enabled, but compiler complains if assert is used as an identifier or label. The following command will compile AssertionDemo with assertion enabled.
javac ?source 1.4 AssertionDemo.java
The resulting AssertionDemo class file will contain assertion code.
By default assertion are disabled in Java runtime environment. The argument ?eanbleassertion or ?ea will enables assertion, while ?disableassertion or ?da will disable assertions at runtime.
The following command will run AssertionDemo with assertion enabled.
Java ?ea AssertionDemo
or
Java ?enableassertion AssertionDemo
Second form of Assertion
The second form of assertion takes another expression as an argument.
The syntax is,
assert expression1 : expression2;
where expression1 is the condition and must evaluate to true at runtime.
This statement is equivalent to
assert expression1 : throw new AssertionError(expression2);
Note: AssertionError is unchecked exception, because it is inherited from Error class.
Here, expression2 must evaluate to some value.
By default AssertionError doesn't provide useful message so this form can be helpful to display some informative message to the user.
Rahim Vindhani
Application Develper [Application Development & Webservices]
IBM Global Services, pune, India
email: rahim.vindhani@gmail.com
web: http://www.rahim.co.nr
You might think you don't need a firewall... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was designed back in the... Read More
Remember nice and prosperous Clinton era? When you implemented innovative... Read More
When it comes to screenplay software each screenwriter needs to... Read More
Here is some free software tools to help you build... Read More
For a windows user like me, just can watch with... Read More
Although we don't know whether Microsoft ever envisioned such a... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has many years of successful... Read More
The purpose of one of our projects was MS Exchange... Read More
We would like first emphasize the change in the paradigm.... Read More
Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular,... Read More
Are you ready? SQL Server 2005, the next-generation data management... Read More
Before September 1995, Microsoft Windows was an MS-DOS program. DOS... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains version 8.5, 8.0, 7.5, Great... Read More
Your computer cost you from hundreds to thousands of dollars,... Read More
If you've been using MySQL database to store your important... Read More
Crystal Reports is the most flexible tool on the market... Read More
Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and based on... Read More
I suggest that you do not spend a lot of... Read More
IBM Lotus Notes Domino and Microsoft CRM (Client Relation Management)... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM data conversion deserves FAQ type of... Read More
In the previous ISDN article, we looked at how and... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains might be considered as ERP platform to... Read More
In the Clinton era the status quo was simple: you... Read More
If you have been running Windows XP for a couple... Read More
move in cleaning service Glencoe ..I completed an experiment recently. I wanted to find out... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has several options to enable... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share and... Read More
Find out why Spyware Removal from computers is important and... Read More
.Net Framework is a platform or development environment to seamlessly... Read More
Creating a new markup language.Introduction.General Reuse Markup Langauge, or GRML,... Read More
The US House of Representatives has recently passed the "Spy... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is one of the Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
I love new technology. I am still ready to wait... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains might be considered as ERP platform to... Read More
SAP Inc., a global leader in client/server enterprise application software... Read More
Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More
IntroductionDuring the early years of our modern computer era, very... Read More
Follow the steps below to quickly design, generate, and deploy... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains has substantial mid-market share in the USA... Read More
The adware and spyware definitions list is very long. But... Read More
When you first think about multicurrency ? you probably have... Read More
In our small article we'll consider Microsoft Business Solutions Great... Read More
If you use Microsoft Outlook (or similar applications) for e-mailing,... Read More
When Great Plains Software was designing and developing Great Plains... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Navision serves both European and American megamarkets.... Read More
C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment) - The core of... Read More
In the new era of internet marketing the problem of... Read More
While several preventive maintenance software manufacturers offer free trials for... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains - Microsoft Business Solutions accounting and ERP... Read More
Software |