Testing is not debugging, nor vice versa. The process of program debugging can be described as the activity that one performs after executing a successful test case. (Remember, a successful test case is one that finds a bug.) Describing it in more concrete terms, debugging is two-part process; it begins with some indication of the existence of an error (e.g., the results of a successful test case), and it is the activity of determining the exact nature and location of the suspected error within the programs and fixing or repairing the error.

Testing and debugging are important to quality because all software has bugs, no matter how many reviews we do or how hard we try not to insert bugs in the first place.

In the context of software engineering debugging is the process of fixing a bug in the software. Debugging begins after the software does not excrete properly or fails. This process concludes by addressing or solving the problem and testing the software successfully. A significant amount of time is required on debugging, during the maintenance of the software. This activity requires a lot of expertise, knowledge and skills.

Debugging and testing are considered as two different activities. In testing the focus is to find errors, bugs etc. whereas the activity of debugging starts after the bug is detected in the software

The various stages involved in debugging after the defect is identified in the software are as follows:

(a)    Identify the problem in the software.
(b)    Create the report of a defect.
(c)    Assign the defect to software engineer to ensure that the effect is genuine.
(d)    Analyze the defect by understanding the main cause of the problem. This is done by modeling the system using system documentation, finding and testing the candidate flow(s) and if required can be repeated any number of times.
(e)    Resolve the defect by making required charges to the software.
(f)    Validate the final corrected software.

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