Fabio,

The assert command simply does nothing in the runtime, so there's no need to have the code removed.
...


David, for does nothing, VFP it cannot demand of the time.

BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE, at runtime VFP evaluate ASSERT token, it not eval the expression

ASSERT is fast, but it consumes a little time.

Put next code into a project, run this at design,
compile into a exe, close VFP and run.

MESSAGEBOX("startMode   "+TRANSFORM(_VFP.StartMode))
FOR I=1 TO 10000000
NEXT

t1=SECONDS()
FOR I=1 TO 10000000
NEXT
looptime=SECONDS()-M.T1

t1=SECONDS()
FOR I=1 TO 10000000
*!*	  ASSERT .T. MESSAGE "ASSERT MESSAGE"
*!*	  ASSERT .T. MESSAGE "ASSERT MESSAGE"
*!*	  ASSERT .T. MESSAGE "ASSERT MESSAGE"
NEXT
without=SECONDS()-M.T1-m.looptime

t1=SECONDS()
FOR I=1 TO 10000000
  ASSERT .T. MESSAGE "ASSERT MESSAGE"
  ASSERT .T. MESSAGE "ASSERT MESSAGE"
  ASSERT .T. MESSAGE "ASSERT MESSAGE"
NEXT
withassert=SECONDS()-M.T1-m.looptime

MESSAGEBOX("WITHOUT assert "+TRANSFORM(m.without)+CHR(13);
		+  "WITH    assert "+TRANSFORM(m.withassert))