debugging

1 definition found

debugging - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  debugging
  
     <programming> The process of attempting to determine the cause
     of the symptoms of malfunctions in a program or other system.
     These symptoms may be detected during testing or use by real
     users.
  
     Symptoms are often caused by factors outside the program, such
     as misconfiguration of the user's operating system,
     misunderstanding by the user (see PEBCAK) or failures in
     other external systems on which the program relies.  Some of
     these are more in the realm of technical support but need to
     be eliminated.  Debugging really starts when it has been
     established that the program is not behaving according to its
     specification (which may be formal or informal).  It can be
     done by visual inspection of the source code, debugging by printf
      or using a debugger.  The result may be that the
     program is actually behaving as specified but that the spec is
     wrong or the requirements on which it was based were deficient
     in some way (see BAD).
  
     Once a bug has been identified and a fix applied, the program
     must be tested to determine whether the bug is really fixed
     and what effects the changes have had on other aspects of the
     program's operation (see regression testing).
  
     The term is said to have been coined by Grace Hopper, based
     on the term "bug".
  
     (2006-11-27)