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Software Bug Testing

A software bug in the application under test indicates a deviation, fault, error, mistake, or flaw there. This results in the application to work not as expected. The deviations observed can vary from a simple feature not working to unexpected crash while it is being used.

What is a Software Bug?

A bug is an unofficial name given to defects when the application requirements are not satisfied. This mainly happens when there is coding error from the developers, ambiguous requirements, strict deadlines, very complex application, testing process not as per standards, and so on. A bug comes into picture only while test cases are executed or while simply verifying the application.

In the entire process of testing, there is enormous focus on determining, communicating, examining, and fixing bugs. So while a bug is created by the tester, it is expected that it is described nicely with adequate evidences on the summary of the bug, expected, and actual outcome, steps to reproduce the bug, screenshots of failure, logs, environment details, severity, and priority of the bug, and so on. This helps the developer to find the root cause of the bug, and to fix it.

Various Terminologies Used for Software Bugs

There are various types of terminologies used for software bugs. They are listed below −

  • Defect − A defect is logged by a test engineer whenever the functionalities of the application are not as per the requirements.
  • Bug − A bug is an unofficial name given to a defect, and it is given by test engineers.
  • Error − An error points to a coding error in the application. It can be brought by both the developers and testers.
  • Issue − An issue is a concern from the customer side when the product is not adhering to the business requirements.
  • Failure − When a large number of defects come up in an application, they lead to the application failure.
  • Mistake − Inconsistency observed in a project document is called a mistake.

Why is a Software Bug Encountered?

A software bug is encountered because of the following reasons −

Code Missed

Sometimes it is seen that a particular feature of an application is missed or not yet developed. For example, suppose in an e-commerce application, the add to cart functionality is not implemented by the developer, the test case to verify products in cart have failed due to that. This is due to the missing code around the add to cart feature.

Code Improper

Sometimes it is seen that a particular feature of an application is not working as per requirements. For example, suppose in an e-commerce application, the product search functionality is unable to fetch the searched product, the test cases to verify product search functionality have failed. This is due to the improper code around the search feature.

Code Supplemental

Sometimes it is seen that an additional feature of an application has been implemented which may not be required by the customers as per the requirements in the current release. For example, suppose in an e-commerce application, an extra functionality of product return has been implemented. This resulted in unnecessary wastage of time and effort.

How is a Software Bug Identified?

To identify a software bug in an application, the testers verifying it should have a thorough understanding of its features and functionalities. They should also have an overview of the outline of the code. Finally, they should have the understanding of any undesired results, or failures in the application. Some steps to identify bugs are listed below:

Sighting

When testing an application, the tester should always have a mindset to look for a bug in the application. One of the ways of doing this is being very attentive to every detail in the application. This helps in sighting discrepancies in data, code, and identifying broken lines on the web page.

Testing

Once a probable bug is discovered, it is very important to confirm that by either running some mandatory tests on the application or by updating the code by ourselves to reach a conclusion.

Inspection

It is seen that it is not always possible to find bugs by ourselves. Assistance from other team mates while inspecting the code, to find anomalies in it or while detecting errors in the application help a lot in identifying bugs.

What are the Bug Tracking Tools?

There are multiple bug tracking tools available in the market that aids us to track and manage bugs.

  • Backlog
  • SpiraTeam
  • BugHerd
  • SmartSheet
  • ClickUp
  • Monday
  • Zoho Bug Tracker
  • BugZilla
  • JIRA
  • Mantis
  • RedMine
  • Trac
  • Axosoft
  • Quality Centre
  • eTraxis
  • BugNET
  • FogBugz
  • The Bug Genie
  • Lighthouse
  • BugHost

Read More: 20 Best Bug/Defect Tracking Tools

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Bug. We’ve started with describing what is a software bug, various terminologies used for software bugs, why is a software bug encountered, how is a software bug identified, how to create a test scenario, best practices to write a test scenario, and what are the bug tracking tools.

This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Bug. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.

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