What does the term 'debugging' refer to in programming?

The term 'debugging' specifically refers to the process of identifying, locating, and resolving errors or bugs within a program's code. This is a critical aspect of software development, as errors can cause programs to behave unexpectedly or crash entirely.

Through debugging, programmers use various techniques and tools to analyze the code, track down the source of the error, and implement solutions to correct it. This may involve testing different sections of code, examining error messages, and using debugging utilities that allow for step-by-step execution of the code to observe where it fails or produces incorrect results.

The other options describe different activities related to software development but do not align with the definition of debugging. Creating new features relates to feature development, writing documentation pertains to documenting code for clarity and maintenance, and translating code into machine language relates to the compilation or interpretation phase rather than debugging.