Abend ?

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I've seen this term (abend) used by tech folks in various threads lately, but despite a diligent search I still can't determine its exact meaning. While I assume it indicates some kind of 'error' condition, a more precise explanation would be most appreciated.

Thanks

-- Yan (no@no.no), July 23, 1999

Answers

I believe "Abend" originated as an IBM mainframe expression, at least we use it a lot. It's shorthand for "Abnormal End". Basically it's a program crash, abnormal termination end-of-job. They always seem to occur at 3:00 AM.

http://home.att.net/~arnold.trembley/tmr.htm

-- Arnold Trembley (arnold.trembley@worldnet.att.net), July 23, 1999.


A good online source for tech acronyms is http://www.whatis.com It covers both mainframe and PC terms.

-- JCL Jockey (WeThrive@onStress.com), July 23, 1999.

A system or user completion code. The steps following the abend are not executed; in other words, the job "dies."

-- Mori-Nu (silkenet@yahoo.com), July 23, 1999.

On the other hand,

Abend in german simply means evening.

-- Rickjohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), July 23, 1999.


ABEND is short for ABnormal END, which can occur for a variety of reasons. Some examples:

A hardware failure, such as an uncorrectable tape read or write error.

A "program check," such as trying to divide by 0.

An operating system detected error, such as a record exceeding the maximum expected size.

The programmer may also issue an ABEND at any time, for any number of reasons, usually for "critical" errors. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), July 23, 1999.



or, as when used in a sentence:

Western Civilization is about to abend.

-- Cowardly Lion (cl0001@hotmail.com), July 23, 1999.


Cool!!!

I'm not a "doomer" I'm an "abender." If I was going to a costume party I could be the Masked Abender!!!

(Sorry) ;-)

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), July 23, 1999.


Or next year -- Guten Abend, meine Freunde!

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), July 23, 1999.

...also I believe "Feierabend" means it's 5:00, time to party.

-- isn't it fun to (learn@new.languages), July 23, 1999.

thanx for the laugh, Masked Abender.

"My work here is finished."

-- Cowardly Lion (cl0001@hotmail.com), July 23, 1999.



Sorry Mori-Nu, but as this is a technical question I should point out that an ABEND does not necessarily mean that the remaining job steps are not executed.

You should read up on COND=ONLY and COND=EVEN, and the // IF statement option IF ABEND. Generally your statement is correct, but these options can cause steps following the abend to be executed.

Picky I know, but where computers are concened you have to be!

RonD

-- Ron Davis (rdavis@ozemail.com.au), July 26, 1999.


Fair enough! But executing steps after an abend is not a preferred programming practice; it can make for messy cleanups.

-- Mori-Nu (silkenet@yahoo.com), July 28, 1999.

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