[Rcpp-devel] assert() for Rcpp?

[Kevin Thornton]

Isn't there a potential issue if a package depends on multiple header-only C++ libraries, each of which may include <cassert>?  You'd have multiple definitions of the macro floating around, and the compiler will barf.

--Kevi

> On Feb 17, 2015, at 4:41 PM, Miratrix, Luke <lmiratrix at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> Dirk Eddelbuettel and I were discussing how people do not seem to be
> putting assert() statements in their C code in Rcpp packages.  I expect
> the reason is because assert() prints to cerr, which is a violation of the
> CRAN policies of proper packages.  However, the assert() command is a
> simple macro, and we could tweak it so it is compliant with CRAN
> standards.  Below, I have an example of what might be included.  Dirk
> suggested that this idea be posted to this list to gather peoples insights
> and thoughts (and to catch any memory management issues, for example, that
> might exist with the code below).
> 
> The traditional assert() is a macro that calls a function __assert() which
> in turn seems fairly simple, but the C program for Rcpp should not just
> abort but instead throw an error, I think.  (The macro allows for
> detection of line numbers in the code, and also allows for a NDEBUG flag
> to omit all asserts for efficient code.)
> 
> The proposed code:
> 
> #include <stdio.h>
> 
> #ifdef NDEBUG
> # define assert(EX)
> #else
> # define assert(EX) (void)((EX) || (__assert (#EX, __FILE__, __LINE__),0))
> #endif
> 
> void __assert (const char *msg, const char *file, int line) {
>    char buffer [100];
>    snprintf( buffer, 100, "Assert Failure: %s at %s line #%d", msg, file,
> line );
>    ::Rf_error( buffer );
> }
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, I would love to hear people¹s thoughts on this.  I found assert()
> useful in wrapping an existing spaghetti code base with an R package; it
> seems like a nice tool to provide enhanced ability to track down bugs.  I
> am currently using the above in my package Œtextreg¹ and it appears to
> work great.
> 
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Luke Miratrix
> Assistant Professor of Statistics
> 
> 	Note: Due to my RSI (wrist trouble), e-mail often abrupt.
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Department of Statistics
> Science Center
> 
> Harvard University
> 1 Oxford Street
> Cambridge MA 02138-2901
> 
> 
> lmiratrix at stat.harvard.edu
> 510-735-7635
> 
> 
> 
> 
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___________________________
Kevin Thornton
Associate Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Irvine
http://www.molpopgen.org
http://github.com/molpopgen
http://github.com/ThorntonLab