Bugs and Faults

Laura Parker

I am very confused with these two terms- Bugs and faults, I am not able to differentiate between both of them. Could anyone here help me out for this?

4 Replies

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Sean Stewart14y ago

Fault & Mistake: wrong coding done by Developers
 Bug/Defect : A bug or defect is a flaw in a system or system component which may cause the system or the system component fail to  perform its desired action.

Sam Hobbs14y ago
As Vulpes indicates, there is no formal definition. One possible distinction could be that a bug is the symptoms and a fault is the cause, but that is more of a guess than anything definitive.
Vulpes14y ago
I would say there's no difference between the terms 'bug' and 'fault' in software development - they both mean the same thing though 'bug' is less formal.

My view is supported by Wikipedia which says:

"A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug
Satyapriya Nayak14y ago
Hi Laura,

Error: A discrepancy between a computed, observed, or measured value or condition and the true, specified, or theoretically correct value or condition.

Failure: The inability of a system or component to perform its required functions within specified performance requirements.

Bug: A fault in a program, which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner.

Fault: An incorrect step, process, or data definition in a computer program, which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner.

Defect: Mismatch between the requirements.

Thanks