There are currently cases where calls to type converters are made only to assert whether the conversion is reasonable or not and then discarding the result. For example, to_zaddress(...) is used to check if the pointer passed to it is a valid zaddress or not, whilst discarding the result of the conversion.

Additionally, a call like oopDesc::is_oop(to_oop(o)) is convoluted since a similar check to is_oop() is already done inside to_oop(), which should be a separate operation in its entirety.

Asserts/checks in affected places should be separated so that assertion/checking can be explicitly made and not done more than necessary.