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The withdrawMoney method has a assert statement that checks whether the balance is grater than or equal to amount to be withdrawn.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
Whether you have used Microsoft Word for years, have just... Read More
In the new era of internet marketing the problem of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, Solomon and CRM... Read More
Introduction To ISDN, Part III: Configuring PPP PAP AuthenticationNow we... Read More
The intentions of this short tutorial are not to teach... Read More
Software development is a risky business.Many software developers are barely... Read More
Best Software Act! is very popular CRM for small and... Read More
For those who still don't know, Microsoft Publisher helps computer... Read More
Just imagine: you are walking, say, towards your car, and... Read More
Collaboration SoftwareCollaboration Software, also known as group collaboration software or... Read More
Hi, Guys,I believe a lot of programmers are trying to... Read More
What is Spyware?Spyware monitors your surfing habits and sends the... Read More
Microsoft CRM is now on the scene and it is... Read More
A wiki is an editable text-based website. But you don't... Read More
If you have Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise (version 6.0 or earlier)... Read More
The first thing that you will notice about Linux Red... Read More
NOTE: Please take time to read on - it may... Read More
Every day millions of new web documents emerge on the... Read More
Currently Microsoft Business Solutions is on the way of creating... Read More
If you look back to the history, you will see... Read More
Hey Guys! Don't raise your eyebrows or fear by hearing... Read More
XML parser is a software module to read documents and... Read More
While several preventive maintenance software manufacturers offer free trials for... Read More
Mike Dunville* had a decision to make. As the new... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions accounting package... Read More
scheduled maid service Mundelein ..RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site... Read More
People often ask me: What image file formats will Photoshop... Read More
Writing software manuals is boring, isn't it? We often think:... Read More
Now is the time to look at an alternative to... Read More
Not every software testing project can or should be automated.... Read More
Having from five to ten and more favorite screensavers is... Read More
This is the tutorial where we really get into programming.... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions accounting package... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, designed back in 1990th as database transferable... Read More
Three highly respected names in Human Resources have joined forces... Read More
Logistics automation is often considered as barcoding extension to Sales... Read More
It won't matter how effective your WinRunner Team is if... Read More
Document Manager and Version HistoryIn previous articles I have discussed... Read More
I have always regretted how Microsoft price gouges and rips... Read More
In the real world a "fire wall" is a fireproof... Read More
I like my software simple. If it's too complex or... Read More
So let's begin crunching down these 300 images using Adobe... Read More
The Microsoft system preparation utility for Windows 2000 is a... Read More
Stealing company information used to be the specialty of spies... Read More
Microsoft SQL Server is the leader for inexpensive and middle... Read More
Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and based on... Read More
MS CRM is very close to document workflow automation, including... Read More
The purpose of one of our projects was MS Exchange... Read More
FTP stands for "file transfer protocol". FTP is basically a... Read More
You probably didn't casually invite, or extend a formal attendance... Read More
Software |