Software Bug
A Software Bug is a system error in a software system (that causes it to behave in unintended ways).
- AKA: Programming Error.
- Context:
- It can range from being a Production Software Bug to being an Under-Development Software Bug.
- It can range from being a Fixed Bug to being an Open Bug.
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- It can occur at any stage of the software lifecycle, including development, testing, or production environments.
- It can be classified by severity, from minor issues (such as a UI glitch) to critical bugs (such as a system crash or security vulnerability).
- It can be reported in a Software Bug Report (often within a bug ticket) in tools like JIRA or Bugzilla.
- It can be discovered through manual testing, automated testing, or by end users in a production environment.
- It can result from human error, miscommunication in requirements, or unanticipated system interactions.
- It can be fixed through a hotfix, patch, or in the next software release cycle.
- It can be monitored and managed using bug tracking systems or issue tracking systems.
- It can cause a Ripple Effect, where one bug introduces further complications in a system.
- It can lead to a software system vulnerability, especially if the bug concerns security features or access controls.
- It can be related to specific types of bugs, such as a memory leak, a null pointer exception, or a race condition.
- It can be prevented or minimized through unit testing, integration testing, and code reviews.
- It can affect various system components, from user interface to database transactions and network protocols.
- It can be escalated to a critical incident if the bug significantly impacts the system's availability or functionality.
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- Example(s):
- Software Regression-based Bugs caused by an update that unintentionally reintroduces a previously fixed issue.
- Software Feature Anomaly, where a newly introduced feature behaves in unexpected ways due to incomplete specifications.
- Security Bugs, such as a software system vulnerability allowing unauthorized access.
- Critical Production Bugs that crashes an e-commerce platform during peak shopping hours, requiring a hotfix patch.
- Memory Leak Bugs, where the application consumes memory without releasing it, leading to system slowdown over time.
- Increased Latency Bugs, where a bug introduces delays in network communication, leading to poor user experience.
- Race Condition Bugs, where parallel execution leads to unpredictable system behavior and data corruption.
- Null Pointer Exception Bugs that occur when a program attempts to access or modify an object that hasn't been initialized, causing a crash.
- Overflow Bugs, where a program tries to store data beyond the allocated memory, leading to system crashes or vulnerabilities.
- UI Rendering Bugs, where user interface elements fail to load correctly due to misaligned resource paths or logic errors.
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- Counter-Example(s):
- Software Unit Test, which is a method used to prevent bugs by testing individual software components.
- Code Review, a systematic examination of code to catch errors and bugs before they reach production.
- Test-Driven Development, a methodology that reduces the likelihood of bugs by developing tests prior to writing code.
- See: Failure, System Fault, Source Code, Software Architecture, Ripple Effect, Computing System Crash, Security Bug, Networked-System Performance Error, Bug Tracking System, Software Testing, Code Review.
References
2023
- chat
- A: A bug report is a document that describes a problem with a software application or system, including information about the conditions under which the problem occurred, the expected behavior and the actual behavior. ...
2023
- (Wikipedia, 2023) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug Retrieved:2023-3-30.
- A software bug is an error, flaw or fault in the design, development, or operation of computer software that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways. The process of finding and correcting bugs is termed “debugging” and often uses formal techniques or tools to pinpoint bugs. Since the 1950s, some computer systems have been designed to deter, detect or auto-correct various computer bugs during operations.
Bugs in software can arise from mistakes and errors made in interpreting and extracting users' requirements, planning a program's design, writing its source code, and from interaction with humans, hardware and programs, such as operating systems or libraries. A program with many, or serious, bugs is often described as buggy. Bugs can trigger errors that may have ripple effects. The effects of bugs may be subtle, such as unintended text formatting, through to more obvious effects such as causing a program to crash, freezing the computer, or causing damage to hardware. Other bugs qualify as security bugs and might, for example, enable a malicious user to bypass access controls in order to obtain unauthorized privileges. Some software bugs have been linked to disasters. Bugs in code that controlled the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine were directly responsible for patient deaths in the 1980s. In 1996, the European Space Agency's US$1 billion prototype Ariane 5 rocket was destroyed less than a minute after launch due to a bug in the on-board guidance computer program. In 1994, an RAF Chinook helicopter crashed, killing 29; this was initially blamed on pilot error, but was later thought to have been caused by a software bug in the engine-control computer. Buggy software caused the early 21st century British Post Office scandal, the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history. In 2002, a study commissioned by the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology concluded that "software bugs, or errors, are so prevalent and so detrimental that they cost the US economy an estimated $59 billion annually, or about 0.6 percent of the gross domestic product".
- A software bug is an error, flaw or fault in the design, development, or operation of computer software that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways. The process of finding and correcting bugs is termed “debugging” and often uses formal techniques or tools to pinpoint bugs. Since the 1950s, some computer systems have been designed to deter, detect or auto-correct various computer bugs during operations.
2015
- (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/software_bug Retrieved:2015-2-1.