A software bug is a problem with the code in a computer program which makes it not work

properly. They can cause inconvenience to the user and may make their computer crash or
freeze. Most computer programs have bugs. A program that has a large number of bugs (or
possibly a single or a few serious bugs) is said to be buggy.
Most bugs are caused by bad programming by the developer, but sometimes they can be
caused by compiler problems. When bugs are found, people send bug reports to the
developer to tell them about the bug and let them fix it.
Sometimes, people say that their computer has a bug when something is wrong with it. The
problem is usually caused by a computer virus which has infected their computer and is
making it slow or do different things.
Some bugs are harmless, for example, many video games incorrectly allow objects to move
through walls. Other bugs are more severe, for example, a bug in a navigation system that
causes an airplane to explode.
Types of bugs
Buffer overflow
A buffer overflow happens when a program writes to or reads from an area of memory that
it is not supposed to access.
Arithmetic overflow
An arithmetic overflow happens when a number contained in a variable is increased beyond
the highest number that the variable allows. This will usually cause the number to reset back
to zero.
Infinite loop
An infinite loop happens when a program enters a loop (a series of instructions that is
repeated many times) and there is no way out of the loop. This can cause the program to
freeze.
Roundoff errors
If a floating point variable doesn't have enough precision, the number stored in it can be
inaccurate. This can cause various problems depending on the type of program, for example
it could cause a navigation program to navigate to an unintended location, or distorted sound
in an audio recording program.
Division by zero
Division by zero is an invalid math operation. If a program divides an integer by zero, it will
crash. On Linux, the message displayed when this bug occurs is "floating point exception",
even though floating point numbers were not involved. Floating point math sometimes allows
division by zero. This will usually result in a special "not a number" value.
Clipping problems
In video games, clipping problems, also called collision detection problems, occur when an
object passes through a barrier (such as a wall, floor, or ceiling) that it was not intended to
pass through. This is a very common bug found throughout many video games. This can
happen, for example, in Doom 2 when a crushed monster is resurrected by an arch-vile.
Clipping problems can often be used as a time-saving tactic in speedruns, for example, in
Super Mario 64 it is possible to skip walking up the spiral staircase in the castle by jumping
through the ceiling.
Security bugs
Security bugs are bugs that allow an intruder to either gain access to the computer, or cause
the computer to crash. Causing the computer to crash is called a denial-of-Service attack.
Security bugs are considered especially important to fix because they might allow intruders
to steal important information such as credit card numbers or passwords. Examples of
security bugs include Heartbleed and Shellshock.
Misbugs
A misbug is a bug that has been used as a feature. An example would be a bug in an Android
phone that allows users to gain root access.
Hardware bugs
Some bugs affect hardware (the physical parts of a computer) instead of software. For
example, running the instruction lock cmpxchg8b eax on old Pentium processors would
cause the processor to stop working until rebooted. Since hardware bugs are physical
design flaws, they can not be corrected with a software update, although it may be possible
to work around (hide) the bug with a software update.
SOURCE
Software bug Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.