Should CodeContracts replace the regular ArgumentExceptions?

Question

Could I start using CodeContracts instead of:

if (XXX == Y)
    throw new ArgumentException("bla bla");

How does it work if I develop a library and my library users do not use CodeContracts?

Answer 1

Assuming that the code using code contracts is run through the binary rewriter, it will throw exceptions like code you posted. The re-writer goes through the code and replaces the contract code with argument checking etc. It's kinda like aspect oriented programming. It injects code to handle situations for you after you've compiled it.

If they don't use Code Contracts they will not get the benefit of having static analysis performed which is designed to look at the contract and warn them they might get an error based on the contract and their code.

Code Contracts