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In the computer world error messages are written without verb 'be'. For example,

  • file not found,
  • file not exist,
  • command not found,
  • no such file or directory

and so on. So why verb 'be' is being missed?

UPD My question is duplicate. See "not found" or "is not found"

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Александр Б
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  • Because the video screen is only 40 characters wide. – Hot Licks Jan 15 '17 at 13:50
  • Because it saves space. Compare "файл не найден" with "файл не был найден" - "File not found" - "File was not found" you save a verb and therefore space – the_darkside Jan 15 '17 at 13:53
  • It seems to me no sence to save a few spaces when a file name can be very long. – Александр Б Jan 15 '17 at 14:03
  • Although it sounds reasonable – Александр Б Jan 15 '17 at 14:09
  • And let's not forget that the entire program, including all error messages, must fit on a 180K diskette. – Hot Licks Jan 15 '17 at 14:16
  • The program is expressing the error condition as identified through an, error code through a list of messages already stored Of course person writing the list will write the error string per se without making it look like such a string was generated in real time. – ARi Jan 15 '17 at 14:55
  • ..hence when a particular file is not found -- it is ' File not found' error - and a message displayed accordingly. Saying it is 'File is not found' error will be semantically incorrect. – ARi Jan 15 '17 at 14:57
  • This practice predates computers - cf. Address Unknown. – michael.hor257k Jan 15 '17 at 17:31
  • Computers (memory and storage, including file names) used to be very limited w/r/t space. 19th century: Morse code. Telegrams: charged by the word. Road signs: NO RIGHT ON RED. Also SLOW CHILDREN. Emergency signalling: SOS. – Xanne Jun 23 '17 at 01:12

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