Virhekoodina

Virhekoodina is a Finnish grammatical construction used in technical writing to indicate that a value or status should be interpreted or presented as an error code. The term is formed from virhe (error) and koodi (code) with the approbative suffix -na, yielding "virhekoodina" meaning "as an error code." In Finnish, similar constructions exist to describe roles or functions, and virhekoodina is commonly found in documentation, log messages, and error-handling explanations.

Usage and nuance: virhekoodina emphasizes the role or context in which the value is used, rather than the value itself. It is often contrasted with forms like virhekoodiksi (translative form “as the error code” or “to be used as the error code”), which can denote a change of state or designation. Both forms appear in Finnish technical texts, but virhekoodina is more typical when describing the current functional role of a value within a system’s output or status reporting.

Examples:

- Palvelin vastasi virhekoodina 404. (The server responded as the error code 404.)

- Järjestelmä palautti virhekoodina 500, mikä viittaa palvelinvirheen ilmentymään. (The system returned 500 as the error code, indicating a server error.)

In practice, virhekoodina is one convenient way to phrase that a particular data element should be treated or interpreted as an error code within the surrounding context.

See also: error code, Finnish grammar, translative and adessive cases in Finnish technical writing.