gets stuck in writeByte's ACK loop

[godmar]

After running the digital clock for a few days, it gets stuck in the loop here:

        while(IO.input(self.__Datapin)):
            sleep(0.001)
            if(IO.input(self.__Datapin)):
                IO.setup(self.__Datapin, IO.OUT)
                IO.output(self.__Datapin, IO.LOW)
                IO.setup(self.__Datapin, IO.IN)

I can "fix" it by removing and replugging the Data In connector. I note that clones of this library have removed this ACK loop, i.e., here.

My questions:

• is this loop necessary at all?
• should the number of tries be limited?
• is it safe to continue (or should an exception be thrown) if the ACK doesn't arrive?