Comment Garbage in, Garbage out (Score 1) 546
A quote from the article.
Early in a computer programmer's education, he or she learns the phrase: "Garbage In, Garbage Out." Put simply, in the world of programming, if you write your code correctly, it works. If you write it incorrectly, it fails.
I too learned this quote early in my education, but always assumed that the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" had a very different meaning.
My interpretation was that no matter how good the code was, the quality of program's output was dependant on the quality of the input data.
ie. even with a "perfect" program (if such a thing exists), the output is meaningless if the input data is not accurate/correct/complete etc.
Same quote, two different philosophies ...
Early in a computer programmer's education, he or she learns the phrase: "Garbage In, Garbage Out." Put simply, in the world of programming, if you write your code correctly, it works. If you write it incorrectly, it fails.
I too learned this quote early in my education, but always assumed that the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" had a very different meaning.
My interpretation was that no matter how good the code was, the quality of program's output was dependant on the quality of the input data.
ie. even with a "perfect" program (if such a thing exists), the output is meaningless if the input data is not accurate/correct/complete etc.
Same quote, two different philosophies
