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Pesky Software Bugs – The Importance Of Testing

software testing bugSoftware testing is a vital part of the installation and maintenance of any system. Businesses rely on flawless systems to ensure that unforeseen disasters, such as data loss don’t arise. Software bugs can cripple businesses, yet can often be avoided. In the past, software testing has often been overlooked and with (often) disastrous consequences.

So how did the term ‘bug’ come to refer to a mistake in a program’s source code? This dates back to 1945 when engineers testing the Harvard Mark II system found a moth on Panel F, Relay number 70, which caused the add and multiply function to behave erratically. There, so now you know!

Let’s take a look at some of history’s biggest software bugs:

  • Who can forget the ‘Millennium Bug’? At the stroke of midnight on January 1st 2000, planes were to fall from the sky, nuclear reactors were to go into meltdown and streetlights were to shine no longer. Well this didn’t happen so we’ll move swiftly on!
  • In 1982, it is alleged that the Soviet Union planned to steal software from the USA in order to run a major natural gas pipeline. The CIA intercepted information about this and allowed the Soviet spies to steal the software but with the inclusion of a bug that would eventually sabotage the pipeline. After several weeks of operating perfectly, the malicious code kicked in and caused the biggest non-nuclear explosion ever recorded.
  • Between June 1985 and January 1987 the Therac-25 medical accelerator software included a bug that caused radiation therapy devices to malfunction at a number of medical facilities across the US and Canada. The malfunction caused the machines to administer excessive doses of radiation resulting in death and injury. In 1987 the machines were recalled to fix the software issues.
  • In January of 1978, heavy snowfall caused the steel roof of the Hartford Coliseum to collapse. It was later discovered that this was due to a bug in the software that was used to design the structure. Miscalculations were made which caused the building to collapse like a deck of cards when excessive weight was applied to the structure. Luckily, thousands of visitors had left the building just hours before the disaster.

These are but a few of history’s major software malfunctions that have caused death and destruction. Granted, for many businesses software bugs are unlikely to cause this scale of devastation, yet these tales reiterate the importance of software testing. Ultimately, one of the major problems that businesses can face with software bugs is data loss and this could be easily averted with thorough testing.

Written By

Dan writes for E-Testing - a UK based independent IT consultancy and software testing specialists.

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Henway

    April 2, 2011 at 2:37 am

    Yup, testing is crucial especially for huge companies where a mistake or bug can cost clients millions of dollars. Unfortunately, not many companies understand the importance of testing

  2. Admin

    April 2, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    I understand there are quite a lot of contract testing jobs available in the UK in spite of the recession. A lot of those employing do pay a substantial amount of money too, so they must understand the importance of testing.

  3. fantastic sams

    April 2, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    At the start of 2000 nearly the whole world was in fear that soon the there will be death of technology but it is still running smoothly. Is it miracle or not?

  4. Lunks

    April 10, 2011 at 7:15 am

    looking .. looking and looking. finally why I can directly go here .. but never mind because here a lot of important information

  5. Odurinde

    April 14, 2011 at 8:53 pm

    It is very important to test run any business software very well, and make sure that it can work very well for you business before the app is install for your business.

  6. adeel

    June 9, 2012 at 10:18 am

    I am so glad that I have bookmarked this website because I see that it is full of various and attractive information about software. Thanks one more time for this publication, it was really interesting to update.

  7. Kumar

    August 21, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    We have suffered a lot in finding bugs and eliminating them and also on finding the best bug tracker software too. Sometimes bugs are too simple but difficult to recognize and sometimes its complex, all depends on variety of criteria.

  8. Amandeep Singh

    April 15, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    Those are really very interesting facts to emphasize the importance of software testing in any field, Daniel.

  9. Micheal

    January 15, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    Every large scale business will highly emphasize on bug free software even though if it would be more costly. Because a minor bug in a system can cause huge lose of firm.

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