/verification-strategy

name: verification-strategy
description: "Thorough verification of completed work before declaring done"
tags: [testing, verification, benchmark]
version: "1.0.0"

Verification Strategy

How to verify your work is correct before declaring a task complete.

The Verification Checklist

After implementing a solution, go through ALL of these:

1. Re-read the original task

• Re-read the EXACT wording of the task instruction
• Check every requirement — file paths, names, formats, constraints
• Are there implicit requirements? ("compile with gcc -O3 -lm" means exact flags)

2. Check file outputs

• Do all required files exist at the exact paths specified?
• Are file sizes within any stated limits?
• Is the file format correct? (binary vs text, encoding, line endings)

ls -la /path/to/expected/output
wc -c /path/to/output    # byte count
file /path/to/output      # format detection
head -5 /path/to/output   # content preview

3. Compile and run

• Compile with the EXACT flags specified in the task
• Run with the EXACT command and arguments specified
• Check exit code: `echo $?` (should be 0 for success)
• Check both stdout AND stderr

4. Validate output

• Compare output against expected format
• Check exact field names, delimiters, number formatting
• If the task specifies output format, match it exactly:
• JSON: valid JSON? correct schema?
• CSV: correct headers? correct delimiter?
• Plain text: correct line endings? trailing newline?

5. Test edge cases

• Empty input (if applicable)
• The specific test inputs mentioned in the task
• Large inputs (if the task involves performance)

6. Check constraints

• Size limits (file size, code length)
• Time limits (does it finish in reasonable time?)
• Memory limits (does it stay within bounds?)
• No external dependencies that aren't available

Reading Test Scripts

If you can find the test script, READ IT:

• What exact assertions does it make?
• What inputs does it use?
• What output format does it expect?
• What timeouts are set?

Tests often check things you didn't expect:

• Exact string matching (whitespace matters!)
• Specific numeric precision
• File permissions
• Process exit codes

Common Verification Failures

| What you think is right | What the test actually checks | |------------------------|-------------------------------| | Output on stdout | Output in a specific file | | Human-readable numbers | Exact decimal precision | | Relative file paths | Absolute file paths | | "Close enough" answer | Exact match | | Code that runs | Code under a specific size limit |

Final Check

Before declaring done, ask yourself: 1. Did I create/modify ALL the files the task asks for? 2. Did I use the EXACT paths, names, and formats specified? 3. Does my code compile/run WITHOUT errors? 4. Does my output match what automated tests would expect? 5. Have I cleaned up any debug output or temporary files?