Department of Information Communication
Technology
IET04203-Principles of Computer Support and
Maintenance
Computer Bugs
Computer Bugs
What is a computer bug?
Is an error, flaw, failure, or fault in a computer program or
system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or
causes it to behave in unintended ways.
Causes of computer bugs
• Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people
in either a program's source code or its design,
• In frameworks and operating systems used by such
programs
• Compilers producing incorrect code.
Sources of Problems
• Requirements Definition: Erroneous, incomplete,
inconsistent requirements.
• Design: Fundamental design flaws in the software.
• Implementation: Mistakes in chip fabrication, wiring,
programming faults, malicious code.
• Support Systems: Poor programming languages,
faulty compilers and debuggers, misleading
development tools.
Sources of Problems (Cont’d)
• Inadequate Testing of Software: Incomplete testing, poor
verification, mistakes in debugging.
• Evolution: Sloppy redevelopment or maintenance,
introduction of new flaws in attempts to fix old flaws,
incremental escalation to inordinate complexity.
Bug in Space Code
• Project Mercury’s FORTRAN code had the following fault:
DO I=1.10 instead of ... DO I=1,10
• The fault was discovered in an analysis of why the
software did not seem to generate results that were
sufficiently accurate.
• The erroneous 1.10 would cause the loop to be executed
exactly once!
A software Bug occurs when at least
one of these rules is true
• The software does not do something that the specification
says it should do.
• The software does something that the specification says it
should not do.
• The software does something that the specification does
not mention.
• The software does not do something that the product
specification does not mention but should.
• The software is difficult to understand, hard to use, slow …
Most bugs are not because of
mistakes in the code …
• Specification (~= 55%)
• Design (~= 25%)
• Code (~= 15%)
• Other (~= 5%)
Common types of Computer Bugs
• Arithmetic bugs
Division by zero, Loss of arithmetic precision due to
rounding or numerically unstable algorithms.
• Logic bugs
Infinite loops and infinite recursion, Off by one error,
counting one too many or too few when looping.
• Syntax bugs
Use of the wrong operator, such as performing assignment
instead of equality test. For
example, in some languages x=5 will set the value of x to 5
while x==5 will check
Common types of Computer Bugs
• Resource bugs
Using an unutilized variable, Using an otherwise valid
instruction on the wrong data type (see packed
decimal/binary coded decimal).
• Multi-threading programming bugs
Deadlock, where task A can't continue until task B finished,
but at the same time, task B can't continue until task A
finishes.
Common types of Computer Bugs
• Interfacing bugs
Incorrect API usage, Incorrect protocol implementation,
Incorrect hardware handling, Incorrect assumptions of a
particular platform.
• Performance bugs
Too high computational complexity of algorithm, Random
disk or memory access.
• Team working bugs
Unpropagated updates; e.g. programmer changes "myAdd"
but forgets to change "mySubtract", which uses the same
algorithm.
Comments out of date or incorrect: many programmers
assume the comments accurately describe the code.
Differences between documentation and the actual product.
Ways to handle Bugs
• Programming style
While typos in the program code are often caught by the
compiler, a bug usually appears when the programmer
makes a logic error. Various innovations in programming
style and defensive programming are designed to make
these bugs less likely, or easier to spot.
• Programming techniques
Bugs often create inconsistencies in the internal data of a
running program. Programs can be written to check the
consistency of their own internal data while running.
Ways to handle Bugs
• Development methodologies
There are several schemes for managing programmer
activity, so that fewer bugs are produced.
• Programming language support
Programming languages often include features which help
programmers prevent bugs, such as static type systems,
restricted name spaces and modular programming, among
others.
• Code analysis
Tools for code analysis help developers by inspecting the
program text beyond the compiler's capabilities to spot
potential problems.
