Trying to view a web page and getting the 404 page not found error could be even more frustrating than having to enter couple of captcha codes in a row or a non-functioning ATM machine.
Though many developers are highly creative and mask technical errors by creating a friendly 404 error page, the feeling of getting a 404 error is like falling through a crack.
Today is 4.04 or April. We thus decided to check on the story behind the 404 error and what 404 stands for?
When a group of young scientists at CERN (Switzerland) started developing an internal network, which turned out to be the World Wide Web, as we know it today, they physically situated different functions of the protocol into different rooms of the CERN offices. The central database was on the fourth floor in room 404. There a couple of people managed the requests and transfered files through the internal network. A standard message: “Room 404: file not found” was shown to all faulty requests. This translated as “We in room 404 cannot locate and transfer the requested file”.
When WWW expanded to cover the globe, and the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) was released, the error code 404 was preserved for Not Found.
Of course there are people who call this theory an “urban legend” and that there was never a room 404 at CERN.
What is sure is that the 404 error was officially adopted in 1992 and first appeared in the version 0.9 HTTP. In simple terms HTTP code 404 means: Page Not Found. But HTTP 404 is actually two phrases: Client Error and Not Found. The first 4 is the error class (Client Error), and 04 is the specific error (Not Found).
The term is also part of urban slang – meaning of brainless / nothing is found upstairs – “One is a 404” and inspired a movie title in 2011 and numerous books.
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