> Messages and Codes manuals are used to explain in greater detail what a "message" means and what response to take. In the mainframe world we don't just have "messages" (i.e. random text that may or may not mean something useful) - we also have codes - ever message has a unique code that identifies it.
At the risk of another 'reminiscences' thread - originally the messages had no text at all - just the number. Messages and Codes (e.g., for DOS, TOS, etc.) gave you the text and an explanation. The reason was that storage was knitted (literally) by little girls threading wires through ferrite rings and it was EXPEN$IVE. These days storage is very cheap and there's no justification for messages being cryptic. Also, we have much better search engines - if you index your source with a cheap product such as dtSearch (or even establish a common set online maintained by a user group and let Google index it) you can find the code in seconds. Of course, there are other issues. In enterprise environments code and operations are separated for audit and control reasons. Also - how well is the code commented. -- Phil Payne The Devil's IT Dictionary - last updated 2002/01/20: http://www.isham-research.com/dd.html UK +44 7785 302803 Germany +49 173 6242039
