Adapt to use assert raises

[freddiewanah]

Description

Some test cases use try/except command, instead of catch exceptions with assertRaise. This will cause extra execution time according to the experimental tests.

Types of changes

• Non-breaking change (fix or new feature that would not break existing functionality).
• Breaking change (fix or new feature that would cause existing functionality to change).
• New tests added to cover the changes.
• Integration tests passed locally by running ./runtests.sh -f -u --net --coverage.
• Quick tests passed locally by running ./runtests.sh --quick --unittests --disttests.
• In-line docstrings updated.
• Documentation updated, tested make html command in the docs/ folder.

[KumoLiu]

Thanks for the PR, looks good to me.

[KumoLiu]

/build