Mandelbug

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Mandelbug Mean?

A mandelbug is a complex type of bug or glitch in a
software product that is difficult to fix because of its complexity and
unpredictability. The mandelbug is named after Prof. Benoit Mandelbrot, a Polish-born
mathematician who built a career at IBM, emigrating after World War II.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Mandelbug

Various types of difficult and complicated bugs could be
called mandelbugs. The common idea is that these bugs are resistant to fixes,
because of their chaotic or “non-deterministic” properties. For example, one
common characteristic of a mandelbug would be the difficulty that test teams
would have in replicating it consistently. Bugs like these are often hidden in
the corners of code, in any ambiguities around timing, the use of variables or
other aspects of the underlying source code for the product. Similar types of
terms include bohr bug, heisenberg and shrodinbug.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret 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 IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.