A bug is an error that occurs in the design or programming of software.
Many words are used every day in our language and, however, are not accepted by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) . The entity's dictionary , in any case, is updated over time and it is likely that a term not recognized today will become part of a future edition.
In the case of bug , it is a concept used by all those who have knowledge in the field of computing . This English word, whose literal translation is “bug” , is used to name errors that occur in a computer program .
Computer bug
A bug is generated in the programming or design of the software and, at some point, it manifests itself to the user. Some common bugs are the inclusion of variables that were not initialized at the right time, poor indexing of tables in a database, the creation of an infinite loop , the use of fonts that are difficult to read or the choice of colors. that confuse users.
The usual thing is that the programming language typifies possible bugs so that, in this way, the programmer can resolve the errors in a simple way. Generally, languages organize bugs according to whether they are an error at program execution time or a compilation error.
To detect and correct a bug, you can use a debugger or debugger.
The importance of scrubbers
There is even a specific type of software whose function is to warn and solve bugs. These programs are known as debuggers or, in our language, as debuggers . What a debugger does is analyze the program code and debug it, deleting every error it detects.
The term debugger is also used to name the role played by a programmer within a company with similar objectives to the programs just mentioned, but with much greater depth, complexity and potential, since it is not only dedicated to detecting bugs. , but to propose appropriate solutions and, in the best of cases, to correct them. The task of a debugger is not easy, especially when they must analyze tens of thousands of lines of code that were created by several people, in different parts of the world, and with whom they have no direct contact.
As shocking as it may be for a person who has no relationship with the world of programming, this picture is the daily work scenario of many brave people . Finding a bug, on the other hand, is not always easy. The most benevolent ones appear following a fixed sequence of steps, so that it is possible to define them and cause the error as many times as necessary to understand what causes it and study potential solutions; However, in certain cases it is not possible to find this recipe and detection becomes a real nightmare.
Appearance of a bug
One of the reasons that certain errors arise following a specific path and others do not, is usually that the former arise from a less complex series of events, generally due to a simple lack of attention in the design or programming phase. . For example, it is common for a bug to occur in video games that prevents the player from continuing to advance if they decide to interrupt the normal flow of events and do something that the designers did not believe was possible or earlier than expected; In this case, and especially thanks to communication through social networks, it is expected that the developers will publish a patch that solves the problem.
However, if the bug appears only if a certain number of variables have reached a series of very specific and difficult to obtain values, which depend on various issues, it is likely that a very small number of people will detect it and will not be able to explain what they have done. made to find it, thus making it difficult to correct.