Unixwiz.net - Steve Friedl's Weblog: Helpful error code

September 19, 2002

Helpful error code

I'm building some software for a customer, and it involves using a third-party DLL that was created in Japan. The documentation is about what you'd expect - horribly translated - but even the header files provide some entertainment. The list of error codes contains what you'd expect (Error_DeviceNotFound, Error_Busy and the like), but the catch-all error is:

Error_Something

The header files also have comments in Japanese. I asked my brother Jeffrey to translate them for me, and he said that if I could read the English, they'd not add much.

Posted by Steve at September 19, 2002 12:45 PM | TrackBack

Comments

I don't understand your confusion.. I mean Error_Something is rather descriptive.. it's an error... and it's something.. as opposed to an error that is a nothing..

Would an Error_Something_Else be more of a help?

Posted by: kasia on September 19, 2002 06:49 PM

I like the Mac classic "unexpected error".

Of course, after a while you'd get used to it. Then they became expected errors. But the Mac wasn't smart enough to adapt.

Posted by: Jeremy Zawodny on September 19, 2002 09:06 PM