Short for abnormal end, abend describes when a program or task terminates without warning. If an abend occurs, it’s followed by an error message indicating the program’s last operation and the file or where in the memory the malfunction occurred.

Computer abbreviations, End, Error, Programming terms

  • Why do computers get problems?
  • If you encounter an abend, but don’t see an error message, start on our basic troubleshooting section.