Talk:Software bug: Difference between revisions

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Explain what a bug is

This page doesn't clearly explain what a bug is or why anyone would care.

When a computer program doesn't work right, that's a bug. It could be design error or coding error, but the user doesn't know or care about this distinction. The answers are coming out wrong, or a feature just plain won't work.

We could list typical causes of bugs, as well as remediation efforts or strategies to prevent bugs arising in the first place.

NOT the moth

The moth was definitely NOT the origin of the term bug. If you read Grace Hopper's log carefully, you will see the following points: 1. She wrote "The first actual case of bug being found" which implies that at the time of the writing, they knew of many other cases of bugs that were not actual. 2. i.e. the term "bug" was in use before this moth was found. 3. If the term was really based on some kind of insects, then, this moth would not be first. Kowloonese 21:13, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Moth date is wrong

The date given for the Mark II moth is wrong. It should be 1947, not 1945. Note that in the first line of the quoted section, it says "n 1946, when Hopper was released from active duty...", yet in the last line of that quote it's saying 1945 -- the previous year! Also, if you follow the link to the actual log page, it gives the date as 1947.

I've corrected this date. T-bonham 21:38, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Earlier usage

Just in case anyone wants an example of an earlier usage of the term bug, here's a quote from Edison:

"I have the right principle and am on the right track, but time, hard work and some good luck are necessary too. It has been just so in all of my inventions. The first step is an intuition, and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise -- this thing gives out and [it is] then that "Bugs" -- as such little faults and difficulties are called -- show themselves and months of intense watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success or failure is certainly reached."

(Edison to Puskas, 13 November 1878, Edison papers, Edison National Laboratory, U.S. National Park Service, West Orange, N.J., cited in Thomas P. Hughes, American Genesis: A History of the American Genius for Invention, Penguin Books, 1989, on page 75) --Fastfission 10:56, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

still earlier (than Edison's) usage

There are several references to bug in the modern sense in Victorian Internet by Tom Standage. probably where Edison came across it anyway, since he started out as a telegraph operator. I think this article ought to include at least a pointer to them...

It would be great if you could give us a quote or two from the book. I don't have it myself. --Apoc2400 08:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mars Climate Orbiter mishap

The explanation for the Mars Climate Orbiter mishap is wrong. It was not about confusing meters and yards. The quantity in question was impulse, not length. The report on the mishap states that the expected unit was Newton-seconds while the delivered data was pound-seconds.

This does present a problem though because length is easy to grasp for the public while impulse is a fairly unknown quantity. The concept of meters/yards is well known, Newton-seconds isn't.

Suggestion: let the text "failed to convert yards to meters" instead be: "failed to convert from imperial to metric units"

-- J-Star 22:33, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Patriot "bug"

The link to MIM-104 Patriot indicates that the failure in Dharan was caused by a computer bug. There's no corresponding text in MIM-104 Patriot. If there's any support for this theory, it should be added to Patriot article. Otherwise the link should be deleted.---Isaac R 01:22, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The two articles are now linked. Search for "software error" in MIM-104 Patriot. - Bevo 22:49, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

This article says that 28 deaths were caused by the Patriot bug, but pedantically, weren't the deaths caused by a scud missile and the team responsible for firing it? At worst, the Patriot system can be accused of ...through inaction allowing humans to be harmed... Ojw 19:06, 30 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Operating system bias

There were some disgraceful examples of operating system bias in the "modern bugs and security holes" section. Please, let's leave out our preferences and opinions and state the facts. Every operating system is vulnerable to viruses and security holes, not just WINDOWS. Please give us a break. The section even tried to say that Linux's "Kernel Panic" was only some kind of mythology and isn't really needed because Linux NEVER crashes! And don't forget that closed-source software is out to destroy humanity.

Well, Linux has crashed and crashes much less often than Windows. Furthermore, the desing of Linux and of the other Unix allows them to resist to viruses better than Windows.

Bug examples are becoming irrelevant

There are links to Star Trek episodes that don't have any berring on bugs or defects and all of the video game links are to the products themesleves not to defects found in them. Unless someone can link to sepefic bugs, don't put a link there. I will check back shortly and remove these links if they are not fixed. Walter Görlitz

I'm starting to remove the irrelevant. Complain loudly if you want, but keep the discussion to how the bugs were created and how they serve to teach us not to create new bugs in the future, not things that annoy you.

Bullcrap

"but open source software has the advantage of having a community of qualified developers to work on and improve software (and fix bugs)" That is the fallacy of many eyes; that is, nobody really knows if the guy who worked on it really was qualified at all. BS.

Again, I removed it. Don't put it back in without discussion here on the statement's validity. DoomBringer 18:04, 21 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Even Earlier?

I once heard that Shakespeare is supposedly the earliest recorded use of the 'bug' in this way. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

TheOddMan

In "Writing the laboratory Notebook" (ISBN 0-8412-0906-5), the author Howard Kanare also relates the moth story and says: "The term bug was already in common use to connote problems in electrical and mechanical systems before this time. It came from the Welsh term bwg, meaning a bugbear or hobgoblin."

sblatt

Computer vs. Software Bug

If a bug is something in software that causes a program to run incorrectly, why is this page at "computer bug" instead of "software bug"? "Computer bug" seems to imply there is something wrong with the hardware, not the software running on it. What does everyone else think? — Frecklefoot | Talk 20:58, 29 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Makes sense, since this article seems to be about coding errors, not hardware malfunctions (except for the real bug, but that's an anecdote). Shinobu 00:35, 30 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Done. This has created a number of double redirects. Any help in fixing would be greatly appreciated. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 20:34, 3 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Driv3r most bugged game of all times

Hi, I saw this game on the list of Video Games bug list, but I haven't seen any citations about this. Is there anyone?

CDO

Too narrow?

The definition of 'bug' given here is programming centric. This is fine, so long as we have a more general term, 'defect' say, for errors that can occur during requirements, analysis, or design. However, a search on 'defect' (and several synonyms) fails to retreive any information on software.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MellorSJ (talk • contribs) .

We clearly need a more-generic article on digital defects that can somehow subsume all of hardware, firmware, and software bugs and probably also specification bugs. Maybe one already exists? Does anyone know?

Atlant 16:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Added section on programming style

I added a bullet on programming style under the "Prevention" section.

Good programming style is after all our first line of defence, and typos are the first and I strongly suspect, the most common cause of bugs. I feel that the role played by uncaught typos doing things like throwing off the program flow is somewhat underplayed elsewhere on the page - they aren't mentioned at all in the "types of bugs" section, for instance. All the bugs listed are methodological bugs: flaws in the reasoning of the programmer, rather than in his fingers.

However, while these are critical concepts in programming, I'm unsure if that section should be there, or if it should just be a brief mention here, and a new section created in programming style, called something like "bug avoidance". Or link to defensive programming and bulk up the [potential bugs] section? Thoughts? DewiMorgan 01:58, 11 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In the end I greatly reduced the programming style section that I added here right down, and added links to programming style and defensive programming. I will stick the bulk of the stuff I previously added here to the "programming style" page, and probably add a note to "defensive programming" page too. DewiMorgan 14:47, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Known Bugs

Buffer overflow was listed three times with different wording. Please don't add to this unless you have written code. I agree there should be a section for known bugs, because this tiny list is just the tip of the ice burg.

There should be a section about the meaning of known bugs. You can find them in many big software projects and they are not fixed, because they are not severe and chances are that you will create a new bug if you fix this one.

I might create this section somewhen on my own, but I don't have time for that now. Maybe somebody likes the idea and is faster than me. --JonnyJD 23:20, 2 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, there are many reasons for a known bugs list in software projects. Most of them are just TODO lists or information on bugfixes in upcoming updates. Most of them don't need to be mentioned in an extra section in this article. I can't find good sources for my point and this problem seems widely unknown. I don't create a section for the sake of WP:NOR. It is not my own idea and I already learned it that way, but it is not widely accepted or known. --JonnyJD 23:06, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

[Be Bold]. Add the section and let it be shot down, rather than proposing a section and letting the proposal die from being ignored. I will add the section: please do tweak it, boldly. DewiMorgan 14:51, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

done --JonnyJD 16:52, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

nicely done! DewiMorgan 22:28, 14 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks this now I know what bugs are --Andersmusician $ 16:41, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 118: / Line 118: @@
 == Known Bugs ==
+Buffer overflow was listed three times with different wording. Please don't add to this unless you have written code.  I agree there should be a section for known bugs,  because this tiny list is just the tip of the ice burg.
 There should be a section about the meaning of ''known bugs''. You can find them in many big software projects and they are not fixed, because they are not severe and chances are that you will create a new bug if you fix this one.