Re: Translating PHP error messages (fwd)

C>> Here, the problem isn't the use of English, it's that the error C>> messages were written by some 'square head' (no offense intended). C>> Why the heck won't it just say I screwed up a variable name? C>> Because it doesn't know. It just knows that the parser has no rule to understand what you wrote. It cannot know _what_ you meant when you fed the parser with this. Overestimating computer intelligence basing on cute texts that computer is programmed to output is a common mistake. Computer doesn't know what you mean, only what you say. C>> Yes, PHP could definitely use somewhat more intuitive error C>> messages, but localization alone would just add insult to the C>> injury. While agreeing on that (everything could be made better), parser is not exactly the place. It's necessarily dumb and cannot guess what exactly did you mean when you wrote that. C>> Usage of dll's or their counterpart in the Unix world would, C>> on the other hand, make it hard to localize error messages C>> in mass virtual hosting environments, so it's not the best thing C>> since sliced bread. Unix has eveolved system of i18n and l12n of messages. gettext, catget and stuff. Question is - do we really need that? I, for once, would hate to see error messages on Russian (my native language) - just because they would be both uncomprehendable (go guess what the translator meant by that word) and annoying (it's pretty hard to construct good Russian phrase from english error messages especially when it's constructed from parts. In some cases it's impossible since Russian words change on genders, cases, numbers, times etc. while English ones mostly do not). On the other hands, it would help users (at least, non-lazy ones) if error messages had numbers and there were a manual which gave each number a verbose description on his own language. Here translator would not be limited by the standard error message form and would feel much better. -- Stanislav Malyshev, Zend Products Engineer stas@zend.com http://www.zend.com/ +972-3-6139665 ext.115