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In [[computer science]], '''garbage in, garbage out''' |
In [[computer science]], '''garbage in, garbage out''' ('''GIGO''') is the concept that flawed, or nonsense (garbage) [[input (computer science)|input]] data produces nonsense [[input/output|output]]. '''Rubbish in, rubbish out''' ('''RIRO''') is an alternate wording.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://physicsworld.com/a/machine-learning-collaborations-accelerate-materials-discovery/|title=Machine learning collaborations accelerate materials discovery|date=2019-06-30|website=Physics World|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-09-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tb43AAAAQBAJ&q=RIRO&pg=PP1|title=The Art of Creative Thinking: How to be Innovative and Develop Great Ideas|last=Adair|first=John|date=2009-02-03|publisher=Kogan Page Publishers|isbn=9780749460082|language=en|author-link=John Adair (author)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xaAip-1f_DUC&q=RIRO&pg=PA23|title=Survivors: The Animals and Plants that Time has Left Behind (Text Only)|last=Fortey|first=Richard|date=2011-09-01|publisher=HarperCollins UK|isbn=9780007441389|pages=23, 24|language=en|author-link=Richard Fortey}}</ref> |
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The principle also applies more generally to all [[analysis]] and [[logic]], in that [[argument]]s are unsound if their [[premise]]s are flawed. |
The principle also applies more generally to all [[analysis]] and [[logic]], in that [[argument]]s are unsound if their [[premise]]s are flawed. |
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Revision as of 23:30, 13 February 2022
In computer science, garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) is the concept that flawed, or nonsense (garbage) input data produces nonsense output. Rubbish in, rubbish out (RIRO) is an alternate wording.[1][2][3]
The principle also applies more generally to all analysis and logic, in that arguments are unsound if their premises are flawed.
History
It was popular in the early days of computing, but applies even more today[according to whom?], when powerful computers can produce large amounts of erroneous data or information in a short time. The first use of the phrase has been dated to a November 10, 1957, syndicated newspaper article about US Army mathematicians and their work with early computers,[4] in which an Army Specialist named William D. Mellin explained that computers cannot think for themselves, and that "sloppily programmed" inputs inevitably lead to incorrect outputs. The underlying principle was noted by the inventor of the first programmable computing device design:
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 apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
— Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher[5]
More recently, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch comes to a similar conclusion:
A loading computer is an effective and useful tool for the safe running of a ship. However, its output can only be as accurate as the information entered into it.
The term may have been derived from last-in, first-out (LIFO) or first-in, first-out (FIFO).[7]
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 a credible references point although based on poor data.
— Daniel T. Brooks, Brandon Becker and Jerry R. Marlatt, Computer Applications in Particular Industries: Securities[8]
Uses
This phrase can 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 might be identified and removed by a subsequent step by digital signal processing.
GIGO is commonly used to describe failures in human decision-making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. This sort of issue predates the computer age, but the term can still be applied.
Audiology: This phrase is also used in audiology to describe the process that occurs at the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) when auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder is present. This occurs when the neural firing from the cochlea has become unsynchronized, resulting in a static-filled sound being input into the DCN and then passed up the chain (hence the "GIGO" nomenclature) to the auditory cortex.[9] The term was coined by Dan Schwartz at the 2012 Worldwide ANSD Conference, St. Petersburg, Florida, on 16 March 2012; and adopted as industry jargon to describe the electrical signal received ay the dorsal cochlear nucleus and passed up the auditory chain to the superior olivary complex on the way to the auditory cortex destination.
GIGO was the name of a Usenet gateway program to FidoNet, MAUSnet, e.a.[10]
See also
- Algorithmic bias
- Computer says no
- FINO
- Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder
- Standard error
- Undefined behavior
References
- ^ "Machine learning collaborations accelerate materials discovery". Physics World. 2019-06-30. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
- ^ Adair, John (2009-02-03). The Art of Creative Thinking: How to be Innovative and Develop Great Ideas. Kogan Page Publishers. ISBN 9780749460082.
- ^ Fortey, Richard (2011-09-01). Survivors: The Animals and Plants that Time has Left Behind (Text Only). HarperCollins UK. pp. 23, 24. ISBN 9780007441389.
- ^ "Work With New Electronic 'Brains' Opens Field For Army Math Experts". The Hammond Times. 10 November 1957. p. 65. Retrieved March 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Babbage, Charles (1864). Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. Longman and Co. p. 67. OCLC 258982.
- ^ MAIB (2016-03-17). "SAFETY FLYER" (PDF). MAIB. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
- ^ Quinion, Michael (5 November 2005). "Garbage in, garbage out". World Wide Words. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
- ^ "Computer Applications in Particular Industries: Securities". Computers & The Law, American Bar Association, Section of Science and Technology (Third ed.). 1981. pp. 250, 253.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ Berlin, Hood, Russell, Morlet et al (2010) Multi-site diagnosis and management of 260 patients with Auditory Neuropathy-Dys-synchrony (Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder)
- ^ jfesler (2001-01-01). "GIGO History". gigo.com. Retrieved 2014-01-24.