> "Alphanumeric error codes" brings to mind the status messages on
> OpenVMS. They usually have a particular format. VMS process exit codes
> are also more developed than on Unix, having an internal structure.
>
> Here's some documentation:
>
> http://h30266.www3.hpe.com/odl/i64os/opsys/vmsos84/6023/6023pro_001.html

Thanks for the link. I'll try to summarize it. Error formats:

facility-s-identification, text

   RMS-E-FNF, file not found
   SYSTEM-W-NOSUCHFILE, no such file
   SYSTEM-F-POWERFAIL, power failure occurred
   SYSTEM-S-NORMAL, normal successful completion

facility-s-text

   SYSBOOT-E-Device names not allowed

text only

   Port Power Down

The -s- part is:

S  Success
I  Information
W  Warning
E  Error
F  Fatal

Numeric status codes: $STATUS == "%X00000364" where the %X is simply a
hex marker akin to 0x or #x.

We could represent these in Scheme as follows:

(make-foreign-status
  'number #x00000001
  'symbol 'SYSTEM-S-NORMAL
  'facility 'SYSTEM
  'severity 'S
  'identification 'NORMAL
  'message "normal successful completion")

The 'facility and 'severity properties can also be repurposed for things
like syslog. Since Windows NT has a VMS heritage, maybe it has
equivalents as well.

Do you have access to a live OpenVMS system? Here's a thread about Lisp
on it: <http://www.verycomputer.com/30_61a267f60e8f20cd_1.htm>. Poplog,
XLisp and SIOD have run at some point.