I don't know when to use a static assert and when to use a unit test ?

On Thursday, 21 April 2022 at 22:26:57 UTC, Alain De Vos wrote:

There is assert(), static assert() and unittest.

static assert() is used while compiling, to find errors or circumstances that can lead to errors in runtime or just show type incompatibilities.

assert() is used at runtime to allow some checks before processing data. It is evaluated at runtime and removed from code in release mode. Except assert(0) which will always emit an AssertError and will be never removed.

unittest is a just block that will be only compiled/executed when the -unittest switch will be applied to compiler command line. That's it.

On 4/21/22 6:26 PM, Alain De Vos wrote:

An assert in general is something that must be true for the program to be valid.

A normal assert is some runtime condition that must be true or the program will be terminated.

A static assert is some compile-time condition that must be true or the compilation will be terminated.

A unittest is a completely different thing -- this is testing generally a piece of your program (like a function), to ensure that given known inputs it returns known results. A unittest uses asserts to test that the results are valid.

-Steve