On Compiler Error Messages: What They Say and What They Mean

Table 1

Characteristics that error messages should have (Horning’s [39] and proposed here).

Our principle	Horning’s
Clarity and brevity	concise yet distinctive
Specificity	specific
Context-insensitivity	—
Locality	localize the problem
Positive tone	restrain and polite
Constructive guidance	suggest corrections, restrain and polite
Programmer language	user-directed, source-oriented, readable
Nonanthropomorphism	—
Consistency	—
Visual design	visible pointer, standard format
Extensible help	—
??	complete