Stephen Johnson shared the fascinating origin of the standard error concept in a mailing list by The Unix Heritage Society. The story dates back to Bell Labs in the 1970s, revolving around a colossal Graphic Systems’ C/A/T phototypesetter. This machine required manual labor and left behind a stench from development baths. Doug McIlroy recalled the machine’s first output perplexing a journal editor. This incident led to the invention of the standard error file in Unix, triggered by a memorable message “cannot open file foobar.” This clever anecdote showcases the unconventional inspiration behind a fundamental programming concept embraced by all major operating systems today.
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