I wrote code to detect a problem where live video playout of a file had moved beyond the end of the clip on disk. The clip itself may be growing due to an ongoing recording or a transfer of the file across a network. The error message described the effect ("displayed black") followed by a helpful hint about the possible reason: passed media EOF? I waffled for quite a while between that and past media EOF? Both are true: The "play head" has passed the end of the file and it is now past the end.
Ultimately I chose passed because it described the event. It allows for the fact that the file may grow and then stop again, causing a second occurrence of the message when we pass the EOF once again. It does cause confusion for people who are dealing with a file that won't grow. In that case past EOF seems more accurate.
Is one clearly better than the other in this application?
Best Answer
A key difference between them is that passed is talking about process while past is talking about state. Because of that, I would tend to go with passed for a transient message that will naturally go away some time after its described event occurs and past for a message that will continue to be displayed as long as the state it is describing applies.