Hindenbug

What Does Hindenbug Mean?

A Hindenbug is a catastrophic bug that destroys data, and
may also shut down systems or cause other major problems with an IT system. It is a
general IT slang word for a major bug that does more than just create a
nuisance or an annoyance for users.

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Techopedia Explains Hindenbug

In 1937, the German Hindenburg airship caught fire,
ultimately killing dozens of people. The widely recorded disaster stood as a
symbol of tragic emergency situations gone wrong. Nearly a century later, the
name Hindenburg was morphed into this slang term to describe code problems that
result in serious consequences for developers and users. A Hindenbug might
result, for example, when a mislabeled variable or incorrect parameter causes
input data to crash and be destroyed in a software application. It is a massive
consequence, because that data cannot be recovered. Programmers take Hindenbugs
very seriously.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…