Difference between latent and Masked defect with an Example
latent Vs Masked defect
A latent defect is an existing defect that has not yet caused a failure because the sets of conditions were never met.
A latent defect is an existing defect that has not yet caused a failure because the sets of conditions were never met.
A masked defect is an existing defect that hasn't yet caused a failure just because another defect has prevented that part of the code from being executed.
Let’s imagine that the application is able to print a document either by laser printer or by dot matrix printer. To reach this the application first searches for the laser printer. In the case if it finds a laser printer it uses this one and prints. In the case if it does not find a laser printer, the application searches for dot matrix printer. And if the application finds a dot matrix printer it prints.
If the application has bug in searching and printing.So this application will never search for the dot matrix printer. And the application never got tested for the dot matrix printer. That means the accurate conditions were never met for the dot matrix printer. This is what we call a latent software bug.
Now the same application has 2 errors:
the dot matrix printer search
the dot matrix printer print
But as the search of the dot matrix printer fails the print dot matrix printer error is never detected. So the print dot matrix printer error is a masked software bug.
#Testing
#bug
#latent
#masked
#difference