Old comment, but that's not quite right. The equivalent for implication is "assert(!someObj || someObj.data)" which is much more confusing to read. It's saying

Old comment, but that's not quite right. The equivalent for implication is "assert(!someObj || someObj.data)" which is much more confusing to read. It's saying if someObj exists, then it should also have data. Upon reflection, I think a better example would be something like "assert(someObj.type == SomeObjType::Float => !isnan(someObj.data))". Without the new operator, it would be "assert(someObj.type != SomeObjType::Float || !isnan(someObj.data))" which doesn't make the intent clear.