Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry known for its simplicity and elegance. In English, haiku are written as three lines, with a syllable count of five, seven, and five on in the first, second, and third line.

In The Green Man's opinion nothing softens the blow of a systems failure better than an error message delivered in Haiku. Consider some examples:

Seeing my great fault
Through darkening blue windows
I begin again

-- Chris Walsh

I'm sorry, there's -- um --
insufficient -- what's-it-called?
The term eludes me ...

-- Owen Mathews

A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.

-- David J. Liszewski

and perhaps my favourite

Errors have occurred.
We won't tell you where or why.
Lazy programmers.

-- Charlie Gibbs

As anyone can see, this adds a sense of elegance to an otherwise exasperating experience. Now researchers at Kyoto have developed a computer program that can write Haiku on your behalf. It may be the dawning of a new era in error messages.

Read more here

Existing Haiku courtesy of Salon 21