Short for «abnormal end», abend is a term used to describe when a program or task ends without warning. It comes from the German word Abend which means dusk.
In computer software, it is usually used when the program terminates unexpectedly.
It was first used as an error message on IBM OS/360 systems. It is now used on Novell Netware systems and is a common programming term.
A story is told, which could not be proven, indicating a possible origin of the use of Abend instead of Abort (to abort). When IBM was developing the JCL language, abortion was being discussed in the US and, to be politically correct, IBM changed the ABORT error message to ABEND.
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