Re: Why not use assertions for input validation?

Well, what ever I say might be wrong because I'm not an expert in assertions. First of all, I didn't know that PHP had assertions... so, cool! :-) Second, I know that assertions are used in non-interpreted languages, like C for example, and it gives a way to make some kind of debugging when the code is compiled in "debugging" mode. When a given condition evaluates to true it will "assert" an specific message or situation. But all the assertions are deactivated when the program is compiled for a production environtment. So, you can have debbuging code in your program with assertions and that won't affect the performance or behaviour when it is compiled for a production environment. Remember, I might be wrong or inaccurate. But I agree that it is not a good idea to use assertions to validate input data or for normal operations. -William PS. Could you post a link to that article? El mar, 13-04-2004 a las 13:58, Fraser Campbell escribió: > Hi, > > An article was recently published in Linux Journal entitled Real-World PHP > Security. > > Assertions are mentioned in the article as a way to enforce validity of input. > I didn't even realize that php had assertions so I investigated a little > further ... > > PHP docs on the assert function > (http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.assert.php) states "Assertions should > not be used for normal runtime operations like input parameter checks" which > contradicts the Linux Journal article. An article in the user contributed > notes (http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1008/) also states not to use > assertions in production. > > What is it about assertions that makes them unsuitable for production use? > > Thanks! > -- > Fraser Campbell <fraser@wehave.net> > http://www.wehave.net/ > Georgetown, Ontario, Canada Debian GNU/Linux