Title:
Don’t Blame the Computer for Mistakes!
Author(s):
Bashar Altabba
Publication:
Concrete International
Volume:
24
Issue:
12
Appears on pages(s):
31-33
Keywords:
DOI:
Date:
12/1/2002
Abstract:
Since the late 1980s, computers have become more widely used in civil engineering, and a great many articles have been written warning about what is now commonly referred to as the “garbage-in-garbage-out” syndrome. Broadly speaking, the gist of these articles is that the widespread use of computers in place of hand calculations has led, and is leading increasingly, to a significant reduction in the quality of work performed, and to an increasing risk of undetected errors. Many anecdotes are given to justify this and to lament the good old days of hand calculations, when supposedly “real engineers” performed the most complex calculations completely by hand. It has been estimated that a person, on average, makes about one error in every 10 calculations performed. It would be foolish to think that human error is increasing, or for that matter decreasing, with advancing technology. It is thus meaningless to focus on computers, which are simply tools, and very useful—if not indispensable—ones at that. The fault undoubtedly lies elsewhere, and is independent of the tool being used.