[phobos] A few minor features

[David Simcha]

On 10/31/2010 12:02 PM, Jacob Carlborg wrote:
> On 31 okt 2010, at 16:54, David Simcha wrote:
>> 3.  An alwaysAssert() function that stays on in release mode but is otherwise equivalent to assert().  I had been using enforce() for this, but I don't like that anymore because it throws Exception, not AssertError by default.  This means that if I write catch(Exception), I could accidentally be catching what is effectively an assertion failure.  Since assert() is supposed to be terse to encourage the programmer to use it liberally, explicitly passing AssertError to enforce() doesn't cut it.  Mostly what I need here is a better/terser name than alwaysAssert().  Given the nature of this feature, I'd say terseness actually beats explicitness.  The best I've come up w/ so far is rassert() for release assert.
> I think it's completely wrong that enforce throws Exception, it should throw an exception of its own type, like EnforceException.

Agreed, I've been meaning to suggest that too.  I guess it should be a 
subclass of Exception.  It's still tangential to what I'm proposing, 
though, since IMHO whatever alwaysAssert() throws needs to be derived 
from Error and should probably be the same thing assert() throws.