Technology
What is Software bugs?
A software bug is an error or flaw in a program that makes it behave incorrectly or crash. Bugs range from tiny typos to deep logic mistakes, and finding and fixing them — 'debugging' — is a core part of building software.
See it, don’t just read it.
Watch a 2-minute lesson with voice + animation that explains software bugs.
Key things to understand
- 1It's an error that makes software misbehave.
- 2Causes range from typos to flawed logic.
- 3Fixing them is called debugging.
- 4The term dates to a real moth found in an early computer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a software bug?
- A mistake in a program's code that causes it to behave incorrectly, produce wrong results, or crash.
- Why is it called a 'bug'?
- Famously, an early computer fault was traced to a real moth; the term for glitches stuck.
- How are bugs fixed?
- Through debugging — reproducing the problem, locating the faulty code, and correcting it.