Validation vs. Verification
Verification and Validation (also known simply as V&V) are two parts of the same software package. They are used in software project management, software testing, and software engineering. It is the process by which a software system meets certain specifications. It is also the process by which a software system fulfils the intended purpose of its creation. It is also commonly known as software quality control.
Validation is the portion of the software checks and balances that checks that the product design satisfies or fits the use for which it was intended. This is known as high level checking (basically, informing the system that it built the right product). It carries out this task using dynamic testing and a variety of other forms of review. Dynamic testing specifically examines the physical response from the system to those variables that are not constant and, in time, are prone to change. In a basic sense, validation ensures that the product meets the needs of the user. It also ensures that the certain specifications were, in fact, correct from the beginning of the program. Basically, validation lets you know if you have built the right thing.
Verification is the portion of the software checks and balances that evaluates the software to determine whether the products that are found in a given development phase satisfy the conditions that were put forth at the beginning of that particular phase. In a basic sense, verification ensures that the particular product has been built according to the requirements and design specifications that were introduced at the beginning of the program. Quite frankly, verification lets you know that the correct object was built correctly.
Beyond the software community, the definitions of verification and validation are somewhat similar. In the modelling and simulation community, validation is the process by which the degree of accuracy of a model, simulation, or federation of models and simulations and their associated data can be determined. It also determines whether these models, simulations, or federations therein are accurate representations of the real world from the perspective of the use that was intended for the model, etc. Verification, on the other hand, is the process by which the system determines whether a computer model, simulation, or federation of models and simulations implementations and the content associated with that data represents the conceptual descriptions and specifications of the developer.
Summary:
1. Validation checks that a product design fits its intended use (if the right object has been built); verification evaluates the software that will determine whether the products found satisfy the conditions put forth (if the object built was done so correctly).
2. In the modelling and simulation community, validation determines the degree of accuracy of associated data to the real world according to the model; verification determines whether a computer model and the associated content represent the developer’s conceptual descriptions and specifications.