this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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English usage and grammar

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Does “to assert” a condition imply establishing it? (feddit.de)
submitted 1 year ago by bleistift2@feddit.de to c/english@lemmy.ca
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I’m a computer programmer. When we test programs, we often use a function called “assert” to check if the program produces the conditions we expect.

For example, this test will fail if the + produces an incorrect result:

assert( 2 + 3 ).equals(5)

Another meaning of “assert” in programming is “check, and take action, if necessary”. For instance, the procedure assertDataPresent() may check if the data has already been loaded. If it hasn’t, the function would try to do so, so that in either case the data is present after the procedure is executed.

Which of these meanings is the more common one in regular English? Can “assert” even be used in these ways outside programming?

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[–] pglpm@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

According to the Cambridge dictionary and to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "assert" means "to say that something is certainly true". The Oxford dictionary gives a similar definition among others:

III. To declare, state.

7 trans. To declare formally and distinctly, to state positively, aver, affirm.

So to me it sounds strange to use it as "to check". I haven't seen a definition similar to "to check" in the three dictionaries above. I didn't know it was used this way in programming.

Edit: my understanding of the programming term was wrong, see other comments.