What does the Java assert keyword do, and when should it be used?

Question

What are some real life examples to understand the key role of assertions?

Answer 1

Assertions are used to check post-conditions and "should never fail" pre-conditions. Correct code should never fail an assertion; when they trigger, they should indicate a bug (hopefully at a place that is close to where the actual locus of the problem is).

An example of an assertion might be to check that a particular group of methods is called in the right order (e.g., that hasNext() is called before next() in an Iterator).