diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8f2a972..a8390d1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ if (SQLITE_ENABLE_COLUMN_METADATA)
   add_definitions(-DSQLITE_ENABLE_COLUMN_METADATA)
 endif()
 
+# Enable the user defintion of a assertion_failed() handler.
 add_definitions(-DSQLITECPP_ENABLE_ASSERT_HANDLER)
-  
 
 if (MSVC)
   # build the SQLite3 C library for Windows (for ease of use)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 833efe6..c50a5be 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ namespace SQLite
 void assertion_failed(const char* apFile, const long apLine, const char* apFunc, const char* apExpr, const char* apMsg)
 {
     // Print a message to the standard error output stream, and abort the program.
-    std::cerr << apFile << ":" << apLine << ":" << " error: assertion (" << apExpr << ") failed in '" << apFunc << "' (" << apMsg << ")\n";
+    std::cerr << apFile << ":" << apLine << ":" << " error: assertion failed (" << apExpr << ") in " << apFunc << "() with message \"" << apMsg << "\"\n";
     std::abort();
 }
 }
diff --git a/examples/example1/main.cpp b/examples/example1/main.cpp
index 5ce6a87..1e1745a 100644
--- a/examples/example1/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/example1/main.cpp
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
  */
 
 #include <iostream>
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <cstdio>
+#include <cstdlib>
 #include <cstdlib>
 
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ namespace SQLite
 void assertion_failed(const char* apFile, const long apLine, const char* apFunc, const char* apExpr, const char* apMsg)
 {
     // Print a message to the standard error output stream, and abort the program.
-    std::cerr << apFile << ":" << apLine << ":" << " error: assertion (" << apExpr << ") failed in " << apFunc << ": '" << apMsg << "'\n";
+    std::cerr << apFile << ":" << apLine << ":" << " error: assertion failed (" << apExpr << ") in " << apFunc << "() with message \"" << apMsg << "\"\n";
     std::abort();
 }
 }
diff --git a/src/Assert.h b/src/Assertion.h
similarity index 85%
rename from src/Assert.h
rename to src/Assertion.h
index 984902d..a4256cd 100644
--- a/src/Assert.h
+++ b/src/Assertion.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /**
- * @file    Assert.h
+ * @file    Assertion.h
  * @ingroup SQLiteCpp
  * @brief   Definition of the SQLITECPP_ASSERT() macro.
  *
@@ -39,14 +39,8 @@ namespace SQLite
 #else
 
 // if no assert handler provided by user code, use standard assert()
-
-#ifndef NDEBUG
-    // in debug mode, assert() :
-    #define SQLITECPP_ASSERT(expression,message) assert(expression)
-#else
-    // in release mode, nothing :
-    #define SQLITECPP_ASSERT(expression,message) (expression)
-#endif
+// (note: in debug mode, assert() does nothing)
+#define SQLITECPP_ASSERT(expression,message)    assert(expression && message)
 
 #endif
 
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e88c42..3fa7916 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # add sources of the wrapper as a "SQLiteCpp" static library
 add_library (SQLiteCpp
  SQLiteC++.h
- Assert.h
+ Assertion.h
  Column.cpp
  Column.h
  Database.cpp
diff --git a/src/Database.cpp b/src/Database.cpp
index ec18057..043a6b0 100644
--- a/src/Database.cpp
+++ b/src/Database.cpp
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #include "Database.h"
 
 #include "Statement.h"
-#include "Assert.h"
+#include "Assertion.h"
 #include "Exception.h"
 
 
diff --git a/src/SQLiteC++.h b/src/SQLiteC++.h
index 8aa3763..1ea36f9 100644
--- a/src/SQLiteC++.h
+++ b/src/SQLiteC++.h
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 
 // Include useful headers of SQLiteC++
-#include "Assert.h"
+#include "Assertion.h"
 #include "Exception.h"
 #include "Database.h"
 #include "Statement.h"
diff --git a/src/Statement.cpp b/src/Statement.cpp
index 72c9d7c..24ac1fb 100644
--- a/src/Statement.cpp
+++ b/src/Statement.cpp
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 #include "Database.h"
 #include "Column.h"
-#include "Assert.h"
+#include "Assertion.h"
 #include "Exception.h"
 
 
diff --git a/src/Transaction.cpp b/src/Transaction.cpp
index 827fe83..3b22bf3 100644
--- a/src/Transaction.cpp
+++ b/src/Transaction.cpp
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #include "Transaction.h"
 
 #include "Database.h"
-#include "Assert.h"
+#include "Assertion.h"
 #include "Exception.h"