Assertion

/əˈsɜrʃən/ noun

A statement in code that declares a condition must be true at a specific point during execution. If the condition is false, the program typically stops with an error, helping developers catch bugs during development.

From Latin 'assertio' meaning 'a claiming or affirming.' In programming since the 1960s, borrowed from logic and mathematics where assertions state what must be true for a proof to be valid.

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