Re: Translating PHP error messages (fwd)

On Wed, 20 Dec 2000 13:38:29 +0200, Zeev Suraski said: > At 10:44 20/12/2000, Sascha Schumann wrote: > >On Wed, 20 Dec 2000, Andi Gutmans wrote: > > > > > I personally don't like multi-lingual support. I think software developers > > > all over the world pretty much have to learn English in order to get around > > > so I think they can handle English PHP error messages. It also makes it > > > harder for us to debug if they send us foreign language error messages. > > > We'll need to cross reference them (with an error#) which is yet another > > > step to not replying right away but having to go and open a file. Sucky > > IMO. > > > > It might prove useful to research what other projects have > > already achieved in this area. FreeBSD is currently in the > > process of implementing an AIX-like error system for their > > kernel which uses message catalogues and unique error > > numbers. Here is a point to start with: > > It doesn't really address the concerns Andi raised though. I personally > don't see the great advantage in internationalizing error messages. > IMO, we can add a unique identifier to the error message handler, and keep > the error text in English. This will allow us: > (a) To still understand bug reports or problems without having to look > errors up in some cross reference (note that it doesn't concern just us, > but posts on php-general as well - people often help each other there with > problems) > (b) To describe error messages more thoroughly in external documentation > (i.e., give possible causes for this error, what exactly it means, things > that don't usually fit in the one line description built-into the error). > (c) If (b) happens, it can be translated to whatever language the > documentation teams support. My mother tongue is not English, and sometimes, it may help a lot to have localized version : everyone's using PHP is not core developper. I definitely think that some people who just use PHP for their web site, with only low level of programming could be confused when they run into some "flex scanner error". I was comparing with MySQL error reporting system, and it is worth a look : They have (1) an error code, (2) the description of the error With (1), every body can spot in a snap any error you mention, and description may be translated into any language : All we need. That's the way I see it, from where everybody don't speak english all day round. This is not such an effort to deal numbers to errors, and get a message catalogue, while it may add real value to PHP. -D Hope this help. Ghislain.