What Does Abnormal End Mean?
Abnormal End (ABEND) is an abnormal or unexpected termination of a task in software. It occurs when a software program crashes due to errors. Generally errors in a software application or the operating system cause ABEND.
Techopedia Explains Abnormal End
The term ABEND gets its name from an error message seen in IBM OS/360 systems. The term is claimed to have derived from the German word "abend", which means "evening". When an ABEND occurs the system may stop responding, causing the program to close abruptly.
An ABEND may occur in two scenarios:
- When the system is given a set of instructions that it cannot handle or recognize
- When a program tries to address a memory space beyond a specific limit
Modern operating systems are designed to prevent the system from rebooting by allowing only the offending application to halt or close. Other applications will continue to run normally. Modern operating systems are also more bug resistant than their predecessors, but some application bugs do cause the operating system to hang or lock up, requiring a reboot.
