No matter how tight your security measures are, malware will still find its way onto your computer. Bugs have no relation to your PC’s security and privacy settings; they gain access via system and application updates.
Operating system functionality can be compromised by bugs, which do not pose any security risks. For instance, a Windows bug could prevent you from using the Start Menu, the Search function, etc.
List of 15 Notable and Interesting Computer Science World Bugs
Likewise, a software bug can impact performance and ruin your in-app experience. The world has witnessed a variety of terrifying insects that have wreaked havoc. Below is a list of some of the most well-known and intriguing computer science bugs. Let’s check out.
1. Ariane 5 Crash
A few seconds after launch, the Ariane 5 Rocket exploded into fragments as a result of an Integer Overflow bug in the entire system of the Rocket panel.
This rocket was intended to carry the spacecraft into space, but due to the flaw, it was rendered ineffective, resulting in a $370 million loss!
2. Failure of the Patriot Missile Software
Iraqi missiles killed 28 soldiers and injured 98 others. This was the result of an error in the Patriot missile system, which prevented it from intercepting the incoming missile and saving lives.
3. YouTube’s Gangnam Style Was Deleted
During the creation of a YouTube video, a 32-bit signed integer was used to store the video’s count, but at the time, no one would have imagined that YouTube videos could receive even more views.
The Gangnam-style video received more than a 32-bit integer count, and you may have viewed it as well. Google then fixed the issue by increasing the value of the counts to 64 bits; perhaps in a future era, no video would have more views than a 64-bit integer count.
4. PayPal Error
Due to a bug that was later fixed, PayPal once read or credited roughly $92 quadrillion to the account of Chris Reynolds from Pennsylvania.
5. Y2K Bug
In the 1960s, computer engineers utilized two-digit representations of the year, such as 70 for 1970. Still, on January 1, 2000, many computers would have displayed the year 1900, and engineers exerted significant effort to resolve the issue.
6. Windows Calculator Error
The Windows calculator had a bug; have you ever encountered it? It is the incorrect solution for the square root of [9—3].
In the correct answer for a number of other square roots, the calculator did not display the zero!
7. End of the World (Unix)
The astounding fact is that 32-bit Windows clocks will run out of time on January 19, 2038!
8. AT&T terminates Long Distance Service.
In 1990, a software bug cost AT&T an enormous $60 million. The software issue in the company’s long-distance relay switches prevented users from making long-distance calls for approximately nine hours!
9. Mars Climate Orbiter
The Mars Climate Orbiter, which was launched on December 11, 1998, disintegrated with its connection and was declared lost 286 days after launch due to a ground-based error. According to NASA’s fact sheet, this resulted in a loss of $328 million.
10. Race Condition Virus
A blackout in eight U.S. states and Canada affected approximately fifty million people. This was subsequently described as the race condition bug that affected the populace.
This is supposed to occur when two separate threads of a single operation use the same piece of code, but failure to synchronize the threads causes the system to crash.
11. The Pentium chip’s mathematical error
In 1993, Intel’s most famous Pentium chip demonstrated poor math performance. There is a bug that caused the computer chip to malfunction.
The chip provided incorrect responses, causing the problem to explode into the mother of all public relations catastrophes.
12. Apple Maps Provides Direction to Nothing
In 2012, Apple decided to abandon Google Maps and replace it with a new map application it had developed internally. However, things did not go as planned, and Maps failed to provide accurate directions.
Even train stations, lakes, and bridges were absent or mislabeled on the map, causing users to head in the wrong direction.
13. Google was deceived by a bug into believing the entire web contains malware.
On January 31, 2009, Google’s search engine informed all users that everything on the internet was malware. Even the error rendered the Google homepage as malware.
The duration of the bug’s effects was approximately 55 minutes. After the bug was fixed, however, everything returned to normal.
14. Marine 1 Exploded
In 1962, the first Mariner program spacecraft designed to fly to Venus exploded. The spacecraft exploded about 4 minutes and 55 seconds into the mission.
NASA initially referred to the problem as “incorrect operation of the Atlas airborne beacon equipment.” Later, it was revealed that the software error was caused by an engineer’s incorrect transcription of a single punctuation mark.
15. A bug that limited long-distance phone calls
In 1990, approximately 60,000 AT&T long-distance customers were unable to make long-distance calls. AT&T’s 4ESS long-distance switches continuously redirected all calls to 114 for nine hours.
AT&T attempted everything to resolve the issue before concluding that it was hacked. In the end, it was determined that the problem was caused by a bug in the company’s new software.
Conclusion:
Consequently, these are the most well-known and intriguing computer science-related bugs. Please share your thoughts on these bugs in the comment section below.
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