CSC - Errors in Programming

Errors and mistakes often occur in programming
When staring at a computer screen for hours on end, errors and mishaps are more than likely to appear throughout a development process
Programming faults exist as syntax, run-time and logical errors

Syntax errors (or semantic errors) can be seen as the spelling errors of programming
They occur when the compiler or interpreter is unable to make sense of a word or character
Syntax errors can occur commonly as small mistakes; such as missing semi-colons to end a line, are often hard to pick up without running the program
Generally they are easy to fix. Just find the typo and fix it.
Example:
- System.otu.println("Hello, world!");
- In the above example, the word "out" is misspelled
- This would result in an error as the compiler or interpreter would not be able to make sense of the line

Run-time errors are errors that happen at run-time. ie when the program is running.
The program was made correctly, it compiled correctly, but it can't follow the instructions
Example 1; a user enters the number 0 which is unexpected. eg while x >1 AND <100 ...will cause a run-time error
Example 2; print(Name). This will crash at run-time if the variable Name is not defined...will cause a run-time error
Good programmers will write programs that have expected error handling. But sometimes they just happen when we are developing programs.
Examples HERE

Logical errors (or logic errors) occur when a program produces incorrect or unexpected results due to poor logical processing
Unlike a syntax error or runtime error, the program does not end abruptly or abort
These are caused by programmers' mistakes within the source code
Common examples include using incorrect operators
Examples HERE at the University of Waterloo
Example HERE at wikipedia

Found an error or have an enhancement? Please let us know via this contact form

ProgrammingSequence, selection, iteration, procedures, functions, modules, parameters, compilers, interpreters