[TUHS] A language question

[Paul Winalski]

On 9/1/21, Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As an aside, I'd always been under the impression that the "AB" in "ABEND"
> comes from, "abnormal"?

You are correct, Dan.  ABEND comes from the IBM (specifically
OS/360/370) world and is short for "abnormal end".  It means that
application program (called the "problem program" in IBM mainframe
jargon) has terminated abnormally for some reason and control has
returned to the operating system.  An ABEND was typically followed by
a core dump to the printer.  As the manual for beginning programmers
at Boston College said, "Despite what your German teacher might tell
you, there is no such thing as a guten ABEND."

-Paul W.