My recollection from a past employer is that they distinguished between the two as follows:
These memories do not tie in with the Wikipedia article on the subject, nor a BBC BiteSize Revision article.
So what is the consensus: Do people care what methods and processes are called when I am checking Xml inputs for example?
What am I doing when I:
Verification can be defined as confirmation, through provision of objective evidence that specified requirements have been fulfilled1. Validation can be defined as confirmation through provision of objective evidence that the particular requirements for a specific intended use are fulfilled.
Validation testing is executed by the testing team to test the application. Verification is done before the validation testing. After verification testing, validation testing takes place.
Data validation means checking the accuracy and quality of source data before using, importing or otherwise processing data. Different types of validation can be performed depending on destination constraints or objectives. Data validation is a form of data cleansing.
In my vocabulary, validation is checking whether the format of the data is correct, IE if a you're actually dealing with a correctly formatted date string . Verification is checking whether the date you got is actually the date you were expecting.
Ok, so I'll take this as an open invitation to musing...
I think the difference is very much like compile-time vs. runtime errors. Just like the compiler is able to tell that two variables a
,b
are of type double
, and thus the expression a/b
is valid, it is only during runtime a DivideByZeroException
may be raised if b
turns out to be 0
.
So to complete the analogy, one can validate that a string looks like a credit card number ('compile time'), but can only verify that it corresponds to a valid card only if one tries to charge the credit card ('runtime') with an amount
Duh. So I guess I understand it pretty much like you old company does.
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With