SQA— Software Errors, Defects, and Failures

If you listen closely during various meetings with your colleagues, you will notice that there are many terms that are used to describe problems with a software-driven system.

For example:

— The system crashed during production.

— The designer made an error.

— After a review, we found a defect in the test plan.

— I found a bug in a program today.

— The system broke down.

— The client complained about a problem with a calculation in the payment report.

— A failure was reported in the monitoring subsystem.

Do all of these terms refer to the same concept or to different concepts? It is important to use clear and precise terminology if we want to provide a specific meaning to each of these terms. Figure 1.1 describes how to use these terms correctly.

Figure 1.1 Terminology recommended for describing software problems.

Bug

Since the time of Thomas Edison, engineers have used the word “bug” to refer to failures in the systems that they have developed. This word can describe a multitude of possible problems. The first documented case of a “computer bug” involved a moth trapped in a relay of the Mark II computer at Harvard University in 1947. Grace Hopper, the computer operator, pasted the insect into the laboratory log, specifying it as the “First actual case of a bug being found” (see the page of this log in the photograph below). In the early 1950s, the terms “bug,” “debug,” and “debugging,” as applied to computers and computer programs, started to appear in the popular press [KID 98].

A failure (synonymous with a crash or breakdown) is the execution (or manifestation) of a fault in the operating environment. A failure is defined as the termination of the ability of a component to fully or partially perform a function that it was designed to carry out. The origin of a failure lies with a defect hidden, that is, not detected by tests or reviews, in the system currently in operation. As long as the system in production does not execute a faulty instruction or process faulty data, it will run normally. Therefore, it is possible that a system contains defects that have not yet been executed. Defects (synonym of faults) are human errors that were not detected during software development, quality assurance (QA), or testing. An error can be found in the documentation, the software source code instructions, the logical execution of the code, or anywhere else in the life cycle of the system.

Error

A human action that produces an incorrect result (ISO 24765) [ISO 17a].

Defect

1. A problem (synonym of fault) which, if not corrected, could cause an application to either fail or to produce incorrect results. (ISO 24765) [ISO 17a].
2. An imperfection or deficiency in a software or system component can result in the component not performing its function, e.g. an incorrect data definition or source code instruction. A defect, if executed, can cause the failure of a software or system component (ISTQB 2011 [IST 11]).

Failure

The termination of the ability of a product to perform a required function or its inability to perform within previously specified limits (ISO 25010 [ISO 11i]).

Figure 1.2 Errors, defects, and failures in the software life cycle.

Figure 1.2 shows the relationship between errors, defects, and failures in the software life cycle. Errors may appear during the initial feasibility and planning stages of new software. These errors become defects when documents have been approved and the errors have gone unnoticed. Defects can be found in both intermediary products (such as requirements specifications and design) and the source code itself. Failures occur when an intermediary product or faulty software is used.