Software Testing – Bug vs Defect vs Error vs Fault vs Failure – GeeksforGeeks

Software Testing – Bug vs Defect vs Error vs Fault vs Failure

Software Testing defines a set of procedures and methods that check whether the actual software product matches with expected requirements, thereby ensuring that the product is Defect free. There are a set of procedures that needs to be in mind while testing the software manually or by using automated procedures. The main purpose of software testing is to identify errors, deficiencies, or missing requirements with respect to actual requirements.

Software Testing is Important because if there are any bugs or errors in the software, they can be identified early and can be solved before the delivery of the software product. 

Here we will discuss 5 terms related to SDLC:

1. Bug: A bug refers to defects which means that the software product or the application is not working as per the adhered requirements set. When we have any type of logical error, it causes our code to break, which results in a bug. It is now that the Automation/ Manual Test Engineers describe this situation as a bug.
   A bug once detected can be reproduced with the help of standard bug reporting templates.
2. Defect: A defect refers to the situation when the application is not working as per the requirement and the actual and expected result of the application or software are not in sync with each other.
3. Fault: Sometimes due to certain factors such as Lack of resources or not following proper steps Fault occurs in software which means that the logic was not incorporated to handle the errors in the application. This is an undesirable situation, but it mainly happens due to invalid documented steps or a lack of data definitions.
4. Failure: Failure is the accumulation of several defects that ultimately lead to Software failure and results in the loss of information in critical modules thereby making the system unresponsive. Generally, such situations happen very rarely because before releasing a product all possible scenarios and test cases for the code are simulated.  Failure is detected by end-users once they face a particular issue in the software.
5. Error: Error is a situation that happens when the Development team or the developer fails to understand a requirement definition and hence that misunderstanding gets translated to buggy code. This situation is referred to as an Error and is mainly a term coined by the developers.

A simple diagram depicting Bug vs Defect vs Fault vs Failure:

Bug vs Defect vs Error vs Fault vs Failure:

Some of the vital differences between bug, defect, fault, error, and failure are listed in the below table:

BasisBugDefectFaultErrorFailureDefinitionA bug refers to defects which means that the software product or the application is not working as per the adhered requirements setA Defect is a deviation between the actual and expected outputA Fault is a state that causes the software to fail and therefore it does not achieve its necessary function.An Error is a mistake made in the code due to which compilation or execution fails,Failure is the accumulation of several defects that ultimately lead to Software failure and results in the loss of information in critical modules thereby making the system unresponsive.Raised byTest Engineers The defect is identified by The Testers And is resolved by developers in the development phase of SDLC.Human mistakes lead to fault.Developers and automation test engineersThe failure is found by the test engineer during the  development cycle of SDLCDifferent types

• Logical bugs
• Algorithmic bugs
• Resource bugs

 Defects are classified as follows:
Based on Priority:

• High
• Medium
• Low

Based on Severity:

• Critical
• Major
• Minor
• Trivial

• Business Logic Faults
• Functional and Logical Faults
• Graphical User Interface (GUI) Faults
• Performance Faults
• Security Faults
• Hardware Faults

• Syntactic Error
• UI screen error
• Error handling error
• Flow control error
• Calculation error
• Hardware error
   

NAReasons behind

• Missing Logic
• Erroneous Logic
• Redundant codes
   

• Receiving & providing incorrect input
• Coding/Logical Error leading to the breakdown of software

   

• Wrong design of the data definition processes.
• An irregularity in Logic or gaps in the software lead to the non-functioning of the software.

• Error in code.
• Inability to compile/execute a program 
• Ambiguity in code logic
• Misunderstanding of requirements
• Faulty design and architecture
• Logical error

• Environment variables
• System Errors
• Human Error

Way to prevent the reasons

• Implementing Test-driven development.
• Adjusting enhanced development practices and evaluation of
   cleanliness of the code.

• Implementing Out-of-the-box programming methods.
• Proper usage of primary and correct software coding practices.
   

• Peer review of the Test documents and requirements.
• Verifying the correctness of software design and coding.

• Conduct peer reviews and code-reviews
• Need for validation of bug fixes and enhancing the overall quality of the software.

• Confirmation of Re-testing the process end to end,
• Carefully review the requirements as well as the specifications.
• Categorizing and evaluating the errors and issues.

My Personal Notes

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