Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Systems Engineering has terminology for this distinction.

Verification is "does this thing do what I asked it to do".

Validation is "did I ask it to do the right thing".



Tangentially related, but I've recently started distinguishing verification and validation in my data cleaning work:

verification refers to "is this dataset clean?" or the more precise "does this dataset confirm my assumptions about what a what a correct dataset should be given its focus"

validation refers to "can it answer my questions?" or the more rigorous "can I test my hypotheses against this dataset?"

So I find this interesting (but in hindsight unsurprising) that similar definitions are used in other fields. Would you have a source for your defintions?


They're fairly standard terms from "old style" project management - they show up in the usual V Model of Waterfall vein.

E.g. see Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verification_and_validation




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: