E rru rs By G e r a l d M. W e i n b e r g T h i s is the first e d i t i o n of a new f e a t u r e in *, the E r r u r s Column. Each issue, we will f e a t u r e an errur c o n t r i b uted by one of our readers, or t a k e n from the e d i t o r ' s v o l u m i n o u s file of idiocies. What w e ' r e l o o k i n g for is bad e x a m p l e s of d o c u m e n t a t i o n , each of w h i c h c o n t a i n s a m o r a l for our vast readership. Here a r e some e x a m p l e s of what w e ' r e after: I. u n f o r t u n a t e l y c h o s e n examples, w h i c h c o n f u s e ins t e a d of c l a r i f y i n g 2. unfortunate grammatical constructions that are easily misread the picture that's worth 1,000 words--to correct the confusion it creates completely empty explanations that purport to be saying something Sources will be kept confidential, if requested. The Editur will edit, unless requested not to. Joe Rigo requests that nobody use his manuals for case material. ERRUR OF THE BI-MONTH Because of all that explanation above, here's a short classic from IBM's immortal OS/360 Error Messages: IBC218W INVALID Explanation: has occurred. ERROR. An invalid error return 3. IBC219W WRONG ERROR. Explanation: The error return is valid but is not associated with the specified device. 4. Don't let your imagination be limited by this list. Send in your favorite, h o p e f u l l y w i t h some high m o r a l lesson y o u ' v e been able to a b s t r a c t from it. Contributions go to the E r r u r s Editur: G e r a l d M. W e i n b e r g E t h n o t e c h , Inc. Rural Route Two Lincoln, NE 6 8 5 0 5 MORAL: What the system gives the user is the primary documentation. If that contains moronisms like WRONG ERROR or INVALID ERROR, trying to explain can only make it worse. Get the system changed, or else write: Explanation: I f you g e t t h i s m e s s a g e , it's b e c a u s e t h e p e r s o n who p r o g r a m m e d t h i s p a r t o f t h e s y s t e m was n o t d o i n g a professional job. -19-
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Errurs
Weinberg, Gerald M.
Follow ACM SIGDOC Asterisk Journal of Computer Documentation
, Volume 5 (3)
Association for Computing Machinery – Sep 1, 1978
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