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_DEBUG vs NDEBUG

Asked 2010-02-18T16:59:37.863
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Which preprocessor define should be used to specify debug sections of code?

Use #ifdef _DEBUG or #ifndef NDEBUG or is there a better way to do it, e.g. #define MY_DEBUG?

I think _DEBUG is Visual Studio specific, is NDEBUG standard?

c++ c debugging
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The macro NDEBUG controls whether assert() statements are active or not.

In my view, that is separate from any other debugging - so I use something other than NDEBUG to control debugging information in the program. What I use varies, depending on the framework I'm working with; different systems have different enabling macros, and I use whatever is appropriate.

If there is no framework, I'd use a name without a leading underscore; those tend to be reserved to 'the implementation' and I try to avoid problems with name collisions - doubly so when the name is a macro.

answered 2010-02-18T19:35:49.917

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