Glitches have been around as long as video games have been around. When the very first computer program was written, for the very first computer, there was probably a glitch in it. With that said, it is entirely reasonable to expect glitches to come out with the millions of lines of programming and crazy video processors and things.

Glitch comes from the German word glitschig, which means slippery. This is quite firring because the glitches we see in games and programs on almost a daily basis, have somehow managed to slip past the examining eye of many programmers and testers. A glitch can be caused by many different things. An error in the written software, known as a bug, can cause a glitch. These types of errors can do anything from cause a sequence to repeating itself indefinitely, or simply cause the program to crash altogether. Incorrect instructions given by the operator, and undetected invalid input data are other types of bugs in the software. Computer viruses can cause glitches in hardware or software performance and so can communication errors between input and output devices with the CPU. Video game glitches are exploited purposely by a huge community of gamers. Glitching is when gamers find these said glitches in games, and use them to their own advantage. They can be used to get to unattainable regions of levels, or bring otherwise obsolete items for later levels and so on.

Glitches have been around forever, and will always be around. At some point, one must figure, if you can not beat them, use them to one's advantage.