Two controlled Experiments Concerning the Usefulness of Assertions as a Means for Programming

Abstract

Assertions, or more generally "Programming by contract", have gained widespread acceptance in the computer science community as a means for correct program development. However, the literature lacks an empirical evaluation of the benefits a programmer gains by using assertions in his software development. This paper reports two controlled experiments that close this gap. Both experiments compare "Programming by contract" to the traditional programming style without assertions