“The Error Message as a bourgeois construct”

If you try to run the (unmodified) BASIC code for Oregon Trail (1975) on PDP-8 BASIC, you get this:

 DI 30
 XC 45
 XC 205
…
 IF 700
 NM 730
… (many, many more lines …)

I thought at first it was a stack trace, but nope — it’s error messages! You need to dig through your trusty language manual, and on page 132 it has a table to explain:

DI ERROR IN DIM STATEMENT
IF ERROR IN IF STATEMENT
NM MISSING LINE NUMBER
XC CHARS AFTER END OF LINE

(and yes, they’re in all-caps. Mixed case? Mixed feelings!)

So whenever Python throws a tantrum (or as it calls it, an exception) and wails at length about its problems, remember PDP-8 BASIC: Two letters + a line number. That’s all.

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