Editing Garbage in, garbage out

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}{{Short description|Phrase used in computer science}}
{{Redirect|GIGO|the protein subunits|Gi/Go|the Japanese arcade chain GENDA GiGO|Sega World}}

In [[computer science]], '''garbage in, garbage out''' ('''GIGO''') is the concept that flawed, biased or poor quality ("garbage") information or [[input (computer science)|input]] produces a result or [[input/output|output]] of similar ("garbage") quality. The adage points to the need to improve data quality in, for example, programming. '''Rubbish in, rubbish out''' ('''RIRO''') is an alternate wording.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Demming |first=Anna |date=2019-06-30 |title=Machine learning collaborations accelerate materials discovery |url=https://physicsworld.com/a/machine-learning-collaborations-accelerate-materials-discovery/ |access-date=2019-09-18 |website=Physics World |language=en-GB}}</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>

The principle applies to all logical [[Argumentation theory|argumentation]]: [[soundness]] implies [[validity (logic)|validity]], but validity does not imply [[soundness]].

==History==
The expression was popular in the early days of computing. The first known use is in a 1957 syndicated newspaper article about US Army mathematicians and their work with early computers,<ref name="newspapers">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50687334/the-times/|title=Work With New Electronic 'Brains' Opens Field For Army Math Experts|newspaper=The Hammond Times|date=10 November 1957|page=65|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=March 20, 2016}}</ref> 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:

{{Blockquote|On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?"&nbsp;... 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''<ref>{{cite book |last=Babbage |first=Charles |year=1864 |title=Passages from the Life of a Philosopher |publisher=Longman and Co. |page=67 |oclc=258982 }}</ref>}}

More recently, the [[Marine Accident Investigation Branch]] comes to a similar conclusion:

{{Blockquote|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.|[[Marine Accident Investigation Branch|MAIB]]|''SAFETY FLYER Hoegh Osaka: Listing, flooding and grounding on 3 January 2015''<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508444/HoeghOsaka_Flyer.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325074446/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508444/HoeghOsaka_Flyer.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-25 |url-status=live|title=SAFETY FLYER|author=MAIB|date=2016-03-17|publisher=[[Marine Accident Investigation Branch|MAIB]]|access-date=2016-03-19}}</ref>}}

The term may have been derived from [[LIFO (computing)|last-in, first-out]] (LIFO) or [[first-in, first-out]] (FIFO).<ref name="worldwidewords">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gar1.htm|title=Garbage in, garbage out|last=Quinion|first=Michael|date=5 November 2005|work=World Wide Words|access-date=2012-02-26}}</ref>

==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 also used to describe failures in human [[decision-making]] due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data.<ref>{{FOLDOC|Garbage+in%2C+garbage+out}}</ref>

In [[audiology]], GIGO describes 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 to the auditory cortex.<ref>Berlin, Hood, Russell, Morlet et al  (2010) [http://csd.cbcs.usf.edu/an/Berlin_ANSD.pdf Multi-site diagnosis and management of 260 patients with Auditory Neuropathy-Dys-synchrony (Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder)]</ref> The term was applied 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 by the [[dorsal cochlear nucleus]] and passed up the auditory chain to the [[superior olivary complex]] on the way to the [[auditory cortex]] destination.{{fact|date=February 2023}}

GIGO was the name of a [[Usenet]] gateway program to [[FidoNet]], MAUSnet, e.a.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://gigo.com/wiki/GIGO_History|title=GIGO History|author=jfesler|date=2001-01-01|website=gigo.com|access-date=2014-01-24}}</ref>

The phrase may also be used in the context of [[machine learning]], where poor-quality training data will inevitably lead to a poor-quality model.

== See also ==
{{Wiktionary|garbage in, garbage out|GIGO}}
* [[Algorithmic bias]]
* [[Computer says no]]
* [[FINO]]
* [[Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder]]
* [[Standard error]]
* [[Undefined behavior]]
* [[Data processing inequality]]
* [[No free lunch theorem]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Computer errors]]
[[Category:Computer humour]]
[[Category:Computer jargon]]