A software bug is an error in the software that produces wrong results. A software tester tests the software to find bugs in it.
There are many causes for the bugs → for example, poor design, sloppy programming, lack of version control, or miscommunication. Throughout development, developers introduce hundreds or thousands of bugs in the system. The goal of the tester is to uncover those bugs.
You can find a bug in many different ways, regardless of your role. When building the software, the software developer might notice the bug in another module, written by another developer or by themselves. The tester actively tries to find the bugs as part of a routine testing process. Finally, the users could see the bugs when the software is in production.
All bugs, no matter how they are found, are recorded into a bug-tracking system. A triage team triages the bugs and assigns a priority to the bug, and assigns the bug to a software developer to fix it. Once the developer resolves the problem, they check in the code and mark that bug as ready for testing. Once a bug is ready for testing, it goes to the tester, who tests the software to verify if it’s indeed fixed. If it is, then it’s closed. If not, they assign it to the same developer with a description of the exact steps to reproduce the bug. Some examples of popular bug-tracking systems include BugZilla, FogBugz, etc.
Trivia:
The first software bug was discovered by Admiral Grace Hopper, on September 9, 1947. After they opened a malfunctioning piece of hardware, they found an insect stuck in the relay. Image Source: Link
First Software Bug