Interview Questions

What is the difference between a software bug and software defect?

Software QA/Testing Technical FAQs


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What is the difference between a software bug and software defect?

"Software bug" is nonspecific; it means an inexplicable defect, error, flaw, mistake, failure, fault, or unwanted behavior of a computer program. Other terms, e.g. "software defect", or "software failure", are more specific.
While the word "bug" has been a part of engineering jargon for many-many decades; many-many decades ago even Thomas Edison, the great inventor, wrote about a "bug" - today there are many who believe the word "bug" is a reference to insects that caused malfunctions in early electromechanical computers.

In software testing, the difference between "bug" and "defect" is small, and also depends on the end client. For some clients, bug and defect are synonymous, while others believe bugs are subsets of defects.
Difference number one: In bug reports, the defects are easier to describe.
Difference number two: In my bug reports, it is easier to write descriptions as to how to replicate defects. In other words, defects tend to require only brief explanations.
Commonality number one: We, software test engineers, discover both bugs and defects, before bugs and defects damage the reputation of our company.
Commonality number two: We, software QA engineers, use the software much like real users would, to find both bugs and defects, to find ways to replicate both bugs and defects, to submit bug reports to the developers, and to provide feedback to the developers, i.e. tell them if they've achieved the desired level of quality.
Commonality number three: We, software QA engineers, do not differentiate between bugs and defects. In our reports, we include both bugs and defects that are the results of software testing.

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