Whenever I write a BOOST_ASSERT macro, I'm envious of C++0x static_assert because of its ability to supply a clear error message. I'd really like to be able to write a variant of BOOST_ASSERT like this: #include <boost/assert.hpp> int main() { BOOST_EXTENDED_ASSERT(true, "This will not assert"); BOOST_EXTENDED_ASSERT(false, "This will assert"); return 0; } And then get debug mode output like this: ***** Internal Program Error - Assertion Failed ***** extended_assert_test.cpp(6): error in int main(void): This will assert Adding the code below at the end of <boost/assert.hpp> will do just that. It isn't totally ready for prime time, but it would be nice to find out if others would like something similar added to<boost/assert.hpp>. --Beman // experimental code #ifndef NDEBUG # include <iostream> # include <cstdlib> # include <boost/current_function.hpp> namespace boost { namespace assertion { namespace detail { inline void extended_assert_failed(char const * msg, char const * function, char const * file, long line) { std::cerr << "***** Internal Program Error - Assertion Failed *****\n"; std::cerr << file << '(' << line << "): error in " << function << ": " << msg << std::endl; std::exit(99999); } }}} // boost::assertion::detail # undef BOOST_EXTENDED_ASSERT # define BOOST_EXTENDED_ASSERT(expr, msg) \ ((expr)? ((void)0): ::boost::assertion::detail::extended_assert_failed\ (msg, BOOST_CURRENT_FUNCTION, __FILE__, __LINE__)) #else # define BOOST_EXTENDED_ASSERT(expr, msg) #endif