Garbage In, Garbage Out
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Garbage In, Garbage Out (abbreviated to GIGO) is a phrase in the field of computer science or ICT. It is used primarily to call attention to the fact that computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output. It was most popular in the early days of computing, but applies even more today, when powerful computers can spew out mountains of erroneous information in a short time. The actual term "Garbage in, Garbage out", coined as a teaching mantra by George Fuechsel, an IBM 305 RAMAC technician/instructor in New York, soon contracted to the acronym GIGO. Early programmers were required to test virtually each program step and cautioned not to expect that the resulting program would "do the right thing" when given imperfect input. The underlying principle was probably cited by Charles Babbage, inventor of the first programmable device who said:
On two occasions I have been asked,—"Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" [...] I am not able rightly to comprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.[1]
It is also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. For example, a poorly typeset TeX document will look bad because the user did not write the TeX source well.
The term can also be used as an explanation for the poor quality of a digitized audio or video file. Although digitizing can be the first step in cleaning up a signal, it does not, by itself, improve the quality. Defects in the original analog signal will be faithfully recorded, but may be identified and removed by a subsequent step. (See Digital signal processing.)
Garbage In, Gospel Out is a more recent expansion of the acronym. It is a sardonic comment on the tendency to put excessive trust in 'computerized' data, and on the propensity for individuals to blindly accept what the computer says. Because the data goes through the computer, we tend to believe it.
"Decision-makers increasingly face computer-generated information and analyses that could be collected and analyzed in no other way. Precisely for that reason, going behind that output is out of the question, even if one has good cause to be suspicious. In short, the computer analysis becomes the gospel." [2]
[edit] Non-computer-related use of the term
The term can be used in any field in which it is difficult to create a good result when given bad input. For example, in translation, it is difficult to convert a source text that is confused, illogical or missing pertinent information into a quality translation. A translator may use the phrase "Garbage in, garbage out" to explain the importance of good source text to a client. As another example, in quality implications, the quality of the materials a manufacturer procures directly affects the quality of the finished product.[3]
The phrase is also used in the professional audio field in reference to the importance of high quality microphones and/or source material. In the former case, the term describes the fact that no matter how great the quality of the source material, if the microphone is not suited for the application or is simply poor quality, then it's "garbage in, garbage out" on your recording. The latter case describes the reverse scenario in which the source material (such as a singer with a weak voice or a detuned instrument) is of poor quality, and not even the highest quality microphone can make it sound better.
The term is used as a guiding principle in organic chemistry. If materials used in an organic synthesis are not pure enough, the result can be a complex mixture with little of the desired product.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Babbage, Charles (1864). Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. Longman and Co., 67.
- ^ Daniel T. Brooks, Brandon Becker and Jerry R. Marlatt, "Computer Applications in Particular Industries: Securities" appearing in Bigelow, "Computers & The Law", American Bar Association, Section of Science and Technology, Third Edition 1981 at 250, 253.
- ^ Management of Business Logistics, 7th ed.
[edit] See also
This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.
