Abend refers to an abnormal end of an activity during software execution, causing a crash or freeze. It was originally an error message on IBM mainframes, and is still used by Novell Netware. It’s usually a software problem, not hardware, and newer systems can terminate only the faulty application. IBM’s 360 OS was where the term originated, and it’s mostly used by hackers, programmers, and Novell Netware users.
Abend, often capitalized as ABEND, is short for abend and is a computer term used to refer to an abnormal end of an activity during the execution of a software program. It is more commonly known as a crash or freeze and usually causes the computer to become unresponsive. The term abend was originally used as an error message on IBM mainframe computers running the 360 operating system (OS), which was developed in the 1960s. More recently developed personal computers and operating systems no longer commonly use the term, but the Novell Netware network operating system still uses it in reference to software crashes and errors. This type of abend while running a program commonly indicates a problem with the software rather than the hardware, and usually means that there is an error in an application’s software or the operating system.
The cause of an anomaly is usually bad data or a bad program instruction that the computer can’t follow or can’t recognize. For example, a software shutdown can occur if an instruction in the software program points to an area of memory that the computer cannot access. The result is an outage and the computer will freeze, also called a freeze or freeze. To work, the computer usually needs to be restarted, which means it needs to be turned off and on again.
Newer operating systems are often more crash-proof than older ones. In the event of a software problem, newer systems are often able to terminate only the faulty application, leaving other applications unaffected. This makes it possible to recover from a software program failure without restarting the computer. Hardware problems aren’t usually the cause of outages, but they usually cause the computer to shut down or not be able to turn on. Some hardware problems, such as physical problems with a computer memory cell, can simulate the effects of an abnormal termination of activity.
IBM’s 360 operating system, from which the term abend originated, was written in assembly language and was used primarily between 1965 and 1972. This operating system was developed for mainframe computers, i.e. large-scale computers, often the size of a room, used primarily for data processing by large companies and organizations. Today, the term abend is mostly used by hackers and computer programmers. It is also used by IT professionals and other users of the Novell Netware operating system.
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