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bug

bug definition - telecom

An error in coding or logic that causes a computer software program to malfunction (i.e., perform erratically, suffer catastrophic failure (crash), or produce invalid results. Although the origin of the term bug is somewhat in dispute, folklore dates it the mid-to-late 1940s, when a moth attracted to the light given off by the vacuum tubes of one of the first digital computers, either the Mark I or the ENIAC, died and shorted one of the circuits, causing a system failure. Others attribute the term to Thomas Edison (1878). So much for the etymology of bug. As for entomology, a moth is not a bug, strictly speaking. A true bug has thickened forewings and mouth parts adapted for piercing and sucking, and is of the insect order Hemiptera, which includes aphids, cicadas, and squash bugs. Moths suck, but do not pierce, and belong to the order Lepidoptera, as do butterflies. (Note: There are two kinds of people in this world -those who just love this arcane trivia, and those who hate it. I love it, in moderation. "Arcane trivia" is somewhat tautological, which is a pedantic word for redundant. There are two types of people in this world -- those who love pedants and those who hate them. I hate them.) By the way, a bug fix is in the form of a patch, update, upgrade, or insecticide, depending on the type of bug involved. See also bug fix; Edison,Thomas Alva; entomology; etymology; and pedant
An undocumented feature. (That's a joke.)

Webster's New World Telecom Dictionary Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.