Glitch
Encyclopedia
A glitch is a short-lived fault
in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing
and electronics
industries, and in circuit bending
, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems including human organization
s and nature.
The term derives from the German glitschig, meaning 'slippery', possibly entering English
through the Yiddish
term glitsh.
glitch is an undesired transition that occurs before the signal settles to its intended value. In other words, glitch is an electrical pulse of short duration that is usually the result of a fault or design error, particularly in a digital circuit
. For example, many electronic components such as flip-flop
s are triggered by a pulse that must not be shorter than a specified minimum duration, otherwise the component may malfunction. A pulse shorter than the specified minimum is called a glitch. A related concept is the runt pulse
, a pulse whose amplitude is smaller than the minimum level specified for correct operation, and a spike
, a short pulse similar to a glitch but often caused by ringing
or crosstalk. A glitch can occur in the presence of race condition
in a poorly designed digital
logic circuit.
by comparison to bug
, which is a factual statement that a programming fault is to blame for a system failure.
It frequently refers to an error which is not detected at the time it occurs but shows up later in data errors or incorrect human decisions. While the fault is usually attributed to the computer hardware
, this is often not the case since hardware failures rarely go undetected. Situations which are frequently called computer glitches are:
Such glitches could produce problems such as:
Examples of computer glitches causing disruption include an unexpected shutdown of a water filtration plant in New Canaan, 2010; failures in the Computer Aided Dispatch system used by the police in Austin, resulting in unresponded 911 calls; and an unexpected bit flip causing the Cassini spacecraft to enter "safe mode" in November 2010.
"Glitching
" is the practice of a player exploiting faults in a video game's programming to achieve tasks normally impossible if the game's script runs as intended, such as running through walls or defying the game's laws of gravity. It is often used to gain an unfair advantage over other players in multiplayer video games.
During quality assurance
(such as the role of a game tester for video games), glitches must be located, a report compiled, and then fed back to the programmers.
(An example of this is getting to fight MissingNo.
from Pokemon Red and Blue.)
Some reference books, including Random House's American Slang, claim it comes from the German word glitschen ("to slip") and the Yiddish word gletshn ("to slide or skid"). Either way it is a relatively new term. So new, in fact, that on July 23, 1965, Time Magazine felt it necessary to define it in an article: "Glitches—a spaceman's word for irritating disturbances."
Glitch is also said to be an acronym standing for Gremlins Living In The Computer Hardware.
Fault (technology)
In document ISO/CD 10303-226, a fault is defined as an abnormal condition or defect at the component, equipment, or sub-system level which may lead to a failure....
in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
and electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
industries, and in circuit bending
Circuit bending
Circuit bending is the creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators....
, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems including human organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
s and nature.
The term derives from the German glitschig, meaning 'slippery', possibly entering English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
through the Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
term glitsh.
Electronics glitch
An electronicsElectronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
glitch is an undesired transition that occurs before the signal settles to its intended value. In other words, glitch is an electrical pulse of short duration that is usually the result of a fault or design error, particularly in a digital circuit
Digital circuit
Digital electronics represent signals by discrete bands of analog levels, rather than by a continuous range. All levels within a band represent the same signal state...
. For example, many electronic components such as flip-flop
Flip-flop (electronics)
In electronics, a flip-flop or latch is a circuit that has two stable states and can be used to store state information. The circuit can be made to change state by signals applied to one or more control inputs and will have one or two outputs. It is the basic storage element in sequential logic...
s are triggered by a pulse that must not be shorter than a specified minimum duration, otherwise the component may malfunction. A pulse shorter than the specified minimum is called a glitch. A related concept is the runt pulse
Runt pulse
In digital circuits, a runt pulse is a narrow pulse that,due to non-zero rise and fall times of the signal, does not reach a validhigh or low level...
, a pulse whose amplitude is smaller than the minimum level specified for correct operation, and a spike
Voltage spike
In electrical engineering, spikes are fast, short duration electrical transients in voltage , current , or transferred energy in an electrical circuit....
, a short pulse similar to a glitch but often caused by ringing
Ringing (signal)
In electronics, signal processing, and video, ringing is unwanted oscillation of a signal, particularly in the step response...
or crosstalk. A glitch can occur in the presence of race condition
Race condition
A race condition or race hazard is a flaw in an electronic system or process whereby the output or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent on the sequence or timing of other events...
in a poorly designed digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
logic circuit.
Computer glitch
A computer glitch is the failure of a system, usually containing a computing device, to complete its functions or to perform them properly. In public declarations, glitch is used to suggest a minor fault which will soon be rectified and is therefore a euphemismEuphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
by comparison to bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
, which is a factual statement that a programming fault is to blame for a system failure.
It frequently refers to an error which is not detected at the time it occurs but shows up later in data errors or incorrect human decisions. While the fault is usually attributed to the computer hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
, this is often not the case since hardware failures rarely go undetected. Situations which are frequently called computer glitches are:
- Incorrectly written software (software bugSoftware bugA software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
) - Incorrect instructions given by the operator (operator error) (this might also be considered a software bug)
- Undetected invalid input data (this might also be considered a software bug)
- Undetected communications errors
- Computer virusesComputer virusA computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
- Computer security cracking (sometimes erroneously called "hacking")
Such glitches could produce problems such as:
- Keyboard malfunction
- Number key failure
- Screen abnormalities (turned left, right or upside down)
- Random program malfunctions
- Abnormal program registering
Examples of computer glitches causing disruption include an unexpected shutdown of a water filtration plant in New Canaan, 2010; failures in the Computer Aided Dispatch system used by the police in Austin, resulting in unresponded 911 calls; and an unexpected bit flip causing the Cassini spacecraft to enter "safe mode" in November 2010.
Video game glitches
In video games, a glitch is a programming error which results in behavior not intended by the programmers. Glitches may include incorrectly displayed graphics, collision detection errors, game freezes/crashes, sound issues, and others. Some glitches are potentially dangerous to the game save data."Glitching
Glitching
Glitching is an activity in which a person finds and exploits flaws or glitches in video games to achieve something that was not intended by the game designers. Gamers who engage in this practice are known as glitchers. Glitches can help or disable the player....
" is the practice of a player exploiting faults in a video game's programming to achieve tasks normally impossible if the game's script runs as intended, such as running through walls or defying the game's laws of gravity. It is often used to gain an unfair advantage over other players in multiplayer video games.
During quality assurance
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
(such as the role of a game tester for video games), glitches must be located, a report compiled, and then fed back to the programmers.
(An example of this is getting to fight MissingNo.
MissingNo.
, or MissingNO, is a Pokémon species found in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue. Standing for "Missing Number", MissingNo. Pokémon are used as error handlers by game developer Game Freak; they appear when the game attempts to access data for a nonexistent Pokémon species. Due to the programming...
from Pokemon Red and Blue.)
Popular culture
- A 1976 novel by Steve Wilson, The Lost Traveller, deals with a post-apocalyptic world in which descendants of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang act as paramilitary forces for a community called the Fief. Over the years, the Angels have developed numerous quasi-religious beliefs, including a pantheon of gods. One of the minor deities is Glitch, the godlet of hangups and glitches.
- The 1976 nonfiction book CB Bible includes glitch in its glossary of citizens band radio slang, meaning "an indefinable technical defect in CB equipment", indicating the term was already then in use on citizens band.
- In the 1987 science fiction film RoboCopRoboCopRoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
directed by Paul Verhoeven, ED-209, a state-of-the-art military robotRobotA robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
, malfunctions during its presentation to the executive board of the fictional OCP (Omni Consumer ProductsOmni Consumer Products (Robocop)Omni Consumer Products is a fictional megacorporation in the RoboCop franchise. It creates products for virtually every consumer need, has entered into endeavors normally deemed non-profit, and even manufactured an entire city to be maintained exclusively by the corporation.OCP is a modern example...
). The result is the brutal killing of a company executive. Shortly after the incident, another executive states that it happened due to a "minor glitch". - In the 1994-2001 computer animated series ReBootReBootReBoot is a Canadian CGI-animated action-adventure cartoon series that originally aired from 1994 to 2001. It was produced by Vancouver-based production company Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Communications, BLT Productions and created by Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell and John Grace,...
the character of Bob has a key tool called "Glitch". This is a reference to a computer glitch. - In the 19991999 in filmThe year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
film The MatrixThe MatrixThe Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
there's a "glitch in the Matrix", a sense of déjà vuDéjà vuDéjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
that occurs when the enemy machines alter an aspect of the Matrix, a digital reality in which all the inhabitants believe that they are living in the real world. This is seen when the protagonist, Neo, sees a black cat walk by twice. - The 2008 short film The Glitch, opening film and best science fiction finalist at Dragon ConDragon ConDragon*Con is a North America multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place once each year in Atlanta, Georgia...
Independent Film Festival 2008, deals with the disorientation of late-night TV viewer Harry Owen (Scott Charles Blamphin), who experiences 'heavy brain-splitting digital breakdowns.'
Etymology
Canadian Oxford lists it as a 20th century word of unknown origin.Some reference books, including Random House's American Slang, claim it comes from the German word glitschen ("to slip") and the Yiddish word gletshn ("to slide or skid"). Either way it is a relatively new term. So new, in fact, that on July 23, 1965, Time Magazine felt it necessary to define it in an article: "Glitches—a spaceman's word for irritating disturbances."
Glitch is also said to be an acronym standing for Gremlins Living In The Computer Hardware.
See also
- Glitch (music)Glitch (music)Glitch is a term used to describe a genre of electronic music that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The glitch aesthetic is characterized by a deliberate use of glitch based sonic artifacts that would normally be viewed as unwanted disturbances reducing the overall sound quality and are thus...
- HazardHazard (logic)In digital logic, a hazard in a system is an undesirable effect caused by either a deficiency in the system or external influences. Logic hazards are manifestations of a problem in which changes in the input variables do not change the output correctly due to some form of delay caused by logic...
- BootPing-Pong virusThe Ping-Pong virus is a boot sector virus discovered on March 1, 1988 at the University of Turin in Italy...
- Anomaly in softwareAnomaly in softwareIn software testing, a software anomaly is anything that differs from expectation. This expectation can result from many things like from a document or from a person's view or experiences In software testing, a software anomaly is anything that differs from expectation. This expectation can...
- GlitchingGlitchingGlitching is an activity in which a person finds and exploits flaws or glitches in video games to achieve something that was not intended by the game designers. Gamers who engage in this practice are known as glitchers. Glitches can help or disable the player....
- Software bugSoftware bugA software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
- Cartridge tiltingCartridge tilting"Tilting" a video game cartridge is the process of interrupting the flow of data from the game cartridge to the console. The result of this can be anything, from deforming the character to mess up the game's music to access the game's debug menu...