Computer Programming with Data quality

Hello Team, In Computer programming, For example, Please consider Student application. For student program, Name and Age data collected without evidence. If we enter dummy data, data is processed without analysis. We should add verification to data. In computer science tutorials, Data verification step is missing. We should create sample data for with all evidences for all computer programming.  
Example :
Positive Data Scenario:
Student program:
Enter student name: M.Babu
Input data should be accepted by verifying evidence documents

Negative Data scenario:
Enter Student name: xyz
Input data should be rejected. No such name. No evidences submitted for xyz.

If possible Legal action should be connected to Computer Program and Data quality

Thank you


#ComputerScience #Programming #Java

Not sure I fully understand your question. Do you want to write the verification code for you? We don't do that. We do however help you with what you have managed already. For example: what are your criteria for a valid name or age?

Hello Campbell Ritchie, Thanks for response. I want manual verification of input data using evidences. For example If student name (M.Babu) is entered for Student Application, student should submit the evidences such as any legal documents (Government provided ID card or Birth certificate etc). Student name in Input data should match with supporting documents. If dummy data is passed without evidences, Then that data should be rejected. We should not process dummy data. Verify input data is manual step. We should have (Manual or Automatic) workflow all the input data for verification. Data should be approved by Supervisor or Reviewer.
Valid name means only Alphabets without special character is one validation. But verifying evidences , such as checking name in ID card etc, should happen. I am feeling when doing programming, Evidences are not verified for input data. This is problem from year 1996 to till date in Computer Science and programming. This problem needs to be solved.  I lost some of my life in Computer programming without verifying evidences for input data. Thank you

Are you currently working on a project that needs this capability or is this hypothetical?

This post was made in the form of statements, rather than questions. We are here to answer questions, though, and definitely not to simply do other people's work for them.

We cannot determine what, if any question was given, which is why we cannot reply.

Having said that, it sounds more like you are describing a workflow, not a programming issue as such. Once manual processing enters the problem, then other tools and procedures get involved. And
we won't even touch legal issues. No one here is a legal professional that I know of and legal considerations are extremely locale-dependent anyway.

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:Valid name means only Alphabets without special character is one validation.

Beware of sloppy specifications like this. Many would implement this to mean only permitting the 26 letters from A to Z, but there are many people who have names which would be rejected by that rule. I'm not talking about non-Latin scripts, I would estimate the number of Europeans in this category to be in the millions. I'm related to one of them, who has been affected by this.

Paul Clapham wrote:. . . I would estimate the number of Europeans in this category to be in the millions. . . .

If you spell O'Reilly correctly, you will get about 25% of the population of Ireland in this category.

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:. . . Thanks for response.

That's a pleasure

I want manual verification of input data using evidences. . . .

What you described doesn't sound like a computing problem in the first place, but organisation of staff entering the data, as Tim said. You can still have problems with misspellings; manual input is a sure‑fire recipe for errors. I am not sure how much help we can give you there.

Carey Brown wrote:Are you currently working on a project that needs this capability or is this hypothetical?

Thanks for response. I am not working now. I faced this problem when I was learning BASIC programming in 1996. Now only I am communicating the problems. I felt Computer Science and programming books are not taken care of this problem.  
In Computer science programming, when testing, positive scenario and negative scenario are taken care. For example Student name, positive scenario, Valid name is entered as Babu.M. Negative scenario Dummy data is entered as Xyz. Xyz is not a valid name. No one specified about the quality of data. My wish is we should take care of quality of data with supporting evidences.

Tim Holloway wrote:.......No one here is a legal professional that I know of and legal considerations are extremely locale-dependent anyway.

Thanks for response. Computer languages and software are founded or created by Global professionals. Programs are written by MNC companies. Computer Books are written by Global professionals. Evidence based data is not specified in any place such as books or language document. We should specify like Enter the Student name as per Certificate or ID proof or Legal document. We should not specify as simply enter student name. Now lot of years passed without improving quality. Still old approach is used. We need to use evidence based data for programming and testing purpose.

Paul Clapham wrote:.. Many would implement this to mean only permitting the 26 letters from A to Z, ...

Thanks for response.
My intention is to introduce validation using Supporting legal documents such as Birth certificate or Government id proof. Alphabet based validation is just example.

Campbell Ritchie wrote:What you described doesn't sound like a computing problem in the first place, but organisation of staff entering the data, as Tim said. You can still have problems with misspellings; manual input is a sure‑fire recipe for errors. I am not sure how much help we can give you there.

Thanks for response. In year 1996 I started to think about the Computer program quality when I was writing program in BASIC language. I was supposed to write positive test case and negative test cases for String data type. I wanted to verify evidences for entering the input data. That time evidences were not available. I created random data and test cases are passed in exam. In my mind I was thinking about computer program quality from 1996 to till date. For student name Misspellings we can improve quality in multiple iterations. But dummy data without knowledge of business is threat. That should be avoided by introducing evidences check for input data. Business knowledge should be verified for data creation. I feel xyz is not a valid name. It is dummy data. No one discussing about data quality in Computer programming. Computer Language documentation should take care of data quality problems.

Thank you

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:. . . Negative scenario Dummy data is entered as Xyz. Xyz is not a valid name. . . .

If you require data, why are you allowing those dummy data to be entered at all? How do you know that Xyz isn't a valid name? I still think this is a procedure problem rather than a computing problem.

When I was in school, I had to take 2 courses that were not directly programming-related. One was DP Mathematics, which concerned itself with mathematics and logic as employed in Information Technology (which business called Data Processing back then). Not only stuff like algebra, but alternate numbering systems (binary, octal, hex) and what happens when you attempt to do maths functions on hardware with fixed-sized registers.

The other was a systems analysis course, The textbook was a slim volume concerning a small hypothetical medical supply company and its need for better data processing. I found it un-interesting. It concerned itself with political considerations, office workflows, hardware and other stuff not related to programming. Probably the only IT course I did not achieve an "A" on. Back then, I wanted to Code, and this stuff was annoying and boring.

Since then, experience in IT shops has made me somewhat more appreciative of these things, though I still prefer to Code.

I still have that textbook and have sworn that someday I'll sit down and read it properly.

Sounds like something that might have helped you.

Campbell Ritchie wrote:..If you require data, why are you allowing those dummy data to be entered at all? How do you know that Xyz isn't a valid name? I still think this is a procedure problem rather than a computing problem.

Thanks for response. For example, In Student Java Enterprise applications, Student name entered using Text box in JSP is converted in to String in Servlet. It is stored to Database table using JDBC.  After storing data, data in table need to be verified and approved by admin. In BASIC language name is not stored to database. When testing String data, positive scenario and negative scenario we need to take care. If dummy data is found without evidences, That data should be marked as invalid.  Negative data handling in String data type is computing problem only.   Thank you

Tim Holloway wrote:When I was in school, ...

Thanks for response. In School and colleges I did not communicate with Teachers about data quality problem. Now only I am communicating the problems via this forum. Sample Test Data mandatory with positive scenario and negative scenario in school computer programs theory and lab. In Computer programming books and Computer programming Languages, Test data is not mandatory. This is the gap. Some quality improvement needed in this area. Thank you

In Software job or in Java development job, we need to prepare exhaustive test cases, Test results and submit as evidences. We need to take care of data problems in testing

I'm with Campbell on this one, I think you are talking about a procedural problem. Though I could see software allowing a field that is a link to an image of a scanned photo ID. But it's the procedure that would require that two people view and verify it's accuracy  and sign off on it.

Carey Brown wrote:... But it's the procedure that would require that two people view and verify it's accuracy  and sign off on it...

Hello Carey Brown, Thanks for the response. When giving tutorial of Java, BASIC etc,  positive data testing, negative data testing scenarios are not given in Computer Programming books and programming language documentations. When writing the program only one user take care of development for positive data and negative data. If we use only programming languages BASIC or Java or C without database, We should anticipate problems and enforce evidences when taking input. Example: Student App using java, we should display message to user as follows.
System.out.println("Please enter the name of the student as per Legal document by verifying evidences. ");
System.out.println("Please do not enter dummy data without evidences. If dummy data entered, data will not considered");
Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);  
String studentName = myObj.nextLine();

This will improve quality. Data quality is enforced using both computer programming and manual verification procedure.  

I feel for all input data, we should enforce evidences. Computer programming books, Language documents are not enforcing the evidences now for positive data testing and negative data testing .
Working on imaginary data or dummy data should be avoided. This will improve quality

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:Thanks for response.
My intention is to introduce validation using Supporting legal documents such as Birth certificate or Government id proof. Alphabet based validation is just example.

If you plan to validate a name by comparing it against the original document, I don't understand why any other form of validation is necessary. In fact even comparing isn't necessary; just copy the name from the original document.

I just used an application which did that. It automatically extracted some data from my passport and sent it off to the UK government.

Is that information already digitised in the passport? That is different from what BM seems to want.

A number of years ago I worked for a bank. In the USA, financial institutions are required to try and detect and report financial irregularities such as money laundering.

One way that is done is that transfers of $10,000 must be verified, both in a single transaction and when split up into multiple transactions.

Another is by checking against a list of suspicious entities provided by the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control.

These are very strict requirements, to the point when I joked that if a man walked his dog past one of our banks or offices, that the man and the dog should both be checked. The truth was not too far behind. Vendors, customers, employees, loan applicants, investors, basically everyone was checked.

This list contained named of persons, ocean-going vessels, companies, and other stuff and if you matched it, even approximately, you got put under the microscope. I felt especially sorry for anyone named Guadalupe Ortiz, as that matched the name of a Central American shipping concern known to be actively engaged in illegal activities, and, indeed, at one point, someone with that name featured on national news due to a false hit. It's a fairly common name.

In fact, around the end of my tenure, the names of each and every one of the democratically-elected members of the Hamas government in Gaza was on the list (note that Hamas did stretch the meaning of democracy, though).

So that's the kind of real-world verification that gets done. The legal penalties for failure are quite severe.

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:Example: Student App using java, we should display message to user as follows.
System.out.println("Please enter the name of the student as per Legal document by verifying evidences. ");
System.out.println("Please do not enter dummy data without evidences. If dummy data entered, data will not considered");
Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);  
String studentName = myObj.nextLine();

This will improve quality. Data quality is enforced using both computer programming and manual verification procedure.

You keep using the word "enforce" but you don't describe how the software is supposed to enforce it. In your example you embellish the prompt a bit but you still take the same old error prone string. If you are going to "enforce" something through business procedures that's outside of the scope of what we do here. So far you haven't laid out a set of requirements that a developer could work with.

Carey Brown wrote:...
You keep using the word "enforce" but you don't describe how the software is supposed to enforce it. In your example you embellish the prompt a bit but you still take the same old error prone string. If you are going to "enforce" something through business procedures that's outside of the scope of what we do here. So far you haven't laid out a set of requirements that a developer could work with.

Hello Carey Brown, Thanks for response. I created sample program for Student Application as follows. It enforces input data check every time. We need to verify all the input data with evidences If possible. Dummy data should be avoided. This will improve quality.

import java.util.Scanner; public class StudentApp { public static void main(String[] args) { Scanner myObj = new Scanner(System.in);   String confirmStatus = null; String studentName = null; do { System.out.println("Please enter the name of the student as per Legal document by verifying evidences. "); System.out.println("Please do not enter dummy data without evidences. If dummy data entered, data will not considered"); studentName = myObj.nextLine(); System.out.println("You have entered name as "+studentName); System.out.println("Please verify whether name is as per legal documents. Please confirm (Yes/No)"); confirmStatus = myObj.nextLine(); } while(confirmStatus.equals("No")); System.out.println("Name successfully entered into Student Application"); } }  

Sample input and output are as follows:
Please enter the name of the student as per Legal document by verifying evidences.
Please do not enter dummy data without evidences. If dummy data entered, data will not considered
Bab
You have entered name as Bab
Please verify whether name is as per legal documents. Please confirm (Yes/No)
No
Please enter the name of the student as per Legal document by verifying evidences.
Please do not enter dummy data without evidences. If dummy data entered, data will not considered
Babu
You have entered name as Babu
Please verify whether name is as per legal documents. Please confirm (Yes/No)
Yes
Name successfully entered into Student Application


Thank you

I would say that your code does not enforce entering the correct name. Most employers of data entry personnel expect so many entries per day. With your code the employees will just get in the habit of entering "Yes" without even looking. The best enforcement is electronically scanning the document with automated entry. If that is not feasible then manually scanning the document and keeping it as a record that can be used at anytime to verify the input. That still shouldn't let you off the hook for providing logic to check the characters and format of the data being entered. As mentioned a check for valid name can only check for a limited set of things because there's some strange names out there, no digits would be an obvious check.
public class EnforceInput { private static final Scanner scan = new Scanner( System.in ); public static void main( String[] args ) { System.out.println( "Please scan photo ID: " ); Image image = scanImage(); String name; LocalDate birthday; Student student; do { System.out.print( "Please enter name per photo ID: " ); name = getValidName( scan ); // loops while not valid chars System.out.print( "Please enter birthdate per photo ID: " ); birthday = getValidDate( scan ); // loops till valid date student = new Student( name, birthday, image ); imageDisplay( image ); System.out.println( student ); System.out.print( "Does photo ID match student (y/n): " ); } while( ! scan.nextLine().equalsIgnoreCase( "y" ) ); db.add( student ); } } class Student { int id; String name; LocalDate birthday; Image photoId; }

Hello Team, Thanks in advance. Sorry for inconvenience if any. I do not have my school book. I think in School level programming etc., We do not have evidence check step. Only imaginary data or dummy data is used. How to solve this problem? Please guide me . Thank you

It's been mentioned a few times, but I think what you're attempting to solve is more of a process problem than a programming problem. I've drawn up a sequence diagram of the basic flow I think you are describing.

You'll notice that there is no mention of technology, and one could just as validly implement this process with no computers at all. But, since you want to implement some or all of this process with computers, let's start by selecting one part of it and discuss what the requirements are for it?

Hello, Thanks for response. I want to improve on data quality problems in Computer Programming from school time. I did not communicate about data quality problems in School time etc.  Now I am not working. Work related things are confidential. That cannot be discussed here.  I will study about recent Computer Science school books from my country and connect you back. Thank you

I also realise I did not share the sequence diagram I mentioned. Here it is.

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:Hello, Thanks for response. I want to improve on data quality problems in Computer Programming from school time. I did not communicate about data quality problems in School time etc.  Now I am not working. Work related things are confidential. That cannot be discussed here.  I will study about recent Computer Science school books from my country and connect you back. Thank you

Often people come here with problems involving proprietary code that cannot be shared. In such cases we suggest creating an SSCCE that isolates the problem and doesn't involve proprietary code. By giving us a working example you are much more likely to receive suggestions that are applicable to your problem and receive them in a timely manner. People here tend to lose interest when they detect that there's a hidden agenda they're not being  told about.

Hello All, Thanks in advance. In School time, I learned Computer programs like Fibonacci series, Factorial programming, Palindrome detection, and Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion etc. Without evidences, I learned these programs using imaginary data. If you consider Student Application, For fields such as Student Name, Student Age etc., Any data without evidence or supporting document will be negative data. Similarly I feel we need to enforce evidence in all computer programs for example Fibonacci series, Factorial programming, Palindrome detection, and Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion etc.. Without evidence learning these programs will be less quality. At least we should know in which industry, particular program is used, where data is collected. Working with imaginary data or artificial data will be less quality. Example In Student app, Sorting by name  or Sorting by register number useful in attendance Registration. But during my education time, attendance registers were not automated. But attendance reports or marks reports were reached home. Data quality purpose Good quality data for positive scenario and negative scenario should be provided in Industry, Reference books, and language documentations etc..

In java interview, for example class Employee or class Student is used means, who will provide data? Please guide me
Thank you              

Carey Brown wrote:I would say that your code does not enforce entering the correct name. Most employers of data entry personnel expect so many entries per day. With your code the employees will just get in the habit of entering "Yes" without even looking. The best enforcement is electronically scanning the document with automated entry. If that is not feasible then manually scanning the document and keeping it as a record that can be used at anytime to verify the input. That still shouldn't let you off the hook for providing logic to check the characters and format of the data being entered. As mentioned a check for valid name can only check for a limited set of things because there's some strange names out there, no digits would be an obvious check.
public class EnforceInput { private static final Scanner scan = new Scanner( System.in ); public static void main( String[] args ) { System.out.println( "Please scan photo ID: " ); Image image = scanImage(); String name; LocalDate birthday; Student student; do { System.out.print( "Please enter name per photo ID: " ); name = getValidName( scan ); // loops while not valid chars System.out.print( "Please enter birthdate per photo ID: " ); birthday = getValidDate( scan ); // loops till valid date student = new Student( name, birthday, image ); imageDisplay( image ); System.out.println( student ); System.out.print( "Does photo ID match student (y/n): " ); } while( ! scan.nextLine().equalsIgnoreCase( "y" ) ); db.add( student ); } } class Student { int id; String name; LocalDate birthday; Image photoId; }

Could you please provide sample Data for this program for positive data scenario and negative data scenario.
Where data available to test this program? Please guide me

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:Similarly I feel we need to enforce evidence in all computer programs for example Fibonacci series, Factorial programming, Palindrome detection, and Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion etc..

What would you classify as evidence in these examples?

Tim Cooke wrote:

Babu Muthukrishnan wrote:Similarly I feel we need to enforce evidence in all computer programs for example Fibonacci series, Factorial programming, Palindrome detection, and Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion etc..

What would you classify as evidence in these examples?

I learned these programs in School time. My teacher was telling me these programs with sample data.  We will take one example . Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion used in Weather report. I do not work in Weather report programming in IT industry. But I understand Weather report from Internet or TV etc. If I do programming for Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion, I feel I need to use Thermometer and do programming and view result. I hope you understand evidence based programming. Thank you

Are you saying that "evidence" in this example is the thermometer?

Tim Cooke wrote:Are you saying that "evidence" in this example is the thermometer?

Hello Tim Cooke, Thanks for response. Yes. Program should be connected to Real world. If we use Thermometer, Data used in Celsius to Fahrenheit program will be realistic. Thank you

Ok, can you take me through your design process please?

I have a thermometer, here is a picture of it. How do I use that to validate my Celsius to Fahrenheit converter program?

Tim Cooke wrote:Ok, can you take me through your design process please?

I have a thermometer, here is a picture of it. How do I use that to validate my Celsius to Fahrenheit converter program?

Hello Tim Cooke, Thanks for response. Thermometer image not shows -ve temperature. I think -ve numbers are displayed as positive.

I created the program for Farenheit to Celsius conversion with help Microsoft copilot as follows.

import java.util.Scanner; public class FahrenheitToCelsius {    public static void main(String[] args) {        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);                System.out.print("Enter temperature in Fahrenheit: ");        double fahrenheit = scanner.nextDouble();                double celsius = (fahrenheit - 32) * 5/9;                System.out.printf("Temperature in Celsius: %.2f\n", celsius);                scanner.close();    } }

Sample Data I tested is as follows
Enter temperature in Fahrenheit: -40
Temperature in Celsius: -40.00

Ok I have a new thermometer. How can I use it as evidence in your example?

Tim Cooke wrote:Ok I have a new thermometer. How can I use it as evidence in your example?

Hello Tim Cooke, Thanks for response.
This Thermometer works for certain range of temperature (-40F to 120F) . It displays temperature both in Celsius and Fahrenheit.

We have scientific formula for C= (F-32) * 5/9 for Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion.

From Microsoft copilot:
Celsius to Fahrenheit Conversion used in following places:
Weather Forecasting: Critical for converting temperature data in meteorological reports.
Medical Field: Important for converting body temperatures in different regions.
Daily Life: Used in cooking, travel, and general temperature-related activities.


I feel you have shown the Thermometer image.
You did not specify, From where you got that.
You also not specify, that temperature indicates what? Whether it is temperature of location or temperature of body etc.
Please specify image related details If possible

If you want to display temperature of location, We can display temperature in both the units Celsius and Fahrenheit
If any one temperature is known for example If Fahrenheit is known. We can identify what is the temperature in Celsius
Sample program is as follows:
String city = "Trichy"; double f = 84 ; double c = (f-32) * 5/9; System.out.println("Temperature in "+city+" is "+c+ " Celsius");

You rightly point out that I did not state the source of the thermometer image. It is an image of a generic thermometer that I found on the internet. But I don't think that's important. I was asking that if I have a thermometer how can I use that as evidence when writing a computer program?

You also rightly point out that we have a scientific formula for C to F, and thus also F to C, conversions. This formula is widely accepted as true based on the relationship between two temperature scales that were made up at some point in the past by humans. Since we accept the C and F temperature scales as true, we must also accept the defined relationship, the algorithm, to be true. Why is this not enough?

Let's take your sample program. How would you use a real thermometer to improve the "data quality" of that solution?

Hello Tim Cooke, Thanks for response.

I think I studied about well processed data and unprocessed data (raw data) etc. Example If we consider data Babu. Babu is unprocessed data, meaningless. Name=Babu is well processed data.

When we use real thermometer on particular object or location, we write output as Temperature of object=36 C. , Temperature of location is 32 C.
It is more meaningful.

Only if we algorithm to F to C conversion or C to F conversion. It is less quality. It is just Temperature converter.
We can generate Artificial data or dummy data using that formula by giving random data

We should add more evidence data for well processing data

Example: Before learning computer science, In middle school Mathematics, Area calculation formula for square A = length * length;
Similarly we have area calculation for various shapes such as Rectangle, Square, Triangle, Circle etc.
We use area formula and application of area formula in real world scenario etc.
Area formula applied in Land area calculation, cost calculation etc.

In Computer Science programming, only formula alone used means It is less quality. It is raw data.
We should add more evidences, where that formula is used etc.
That will improve Data quality. Data will become well processed data.

I feel we should compare School Mathematics book and Science book with Computer Science programming for improving quality

Thank you

Can you explain how you think you might achieve that, with an example?

Hello, Thanks for response.  I have written small sample Weather report program already in one of the above post. Please consider it

String city = "Trichy"; // Location name double f = 84 ;// Temperature in Fahrenheit (Approximate) double c = (f-32) * 5/9; // Fahrenheit to Centigrade conversion System.out.println("Temperature in "+city+" is "+c+ " Celsius"); //Output

I do not have Thermometer with me. Approximately I gave temperature from my location.

Output of the program is as follows
Temperature in Trichy is 28.88888888888889 Celsius


In MSN browser, I able to see the Weather report temperature in Centigrade and Fahrenheit
I attached here for reference.

If needed, Similar to that we need create Weather report java program to accept following input
a) Location name
b) Any one of the following
Temperature in Centigrade
Temperature in Fahrenheit

Output will be
a) Temperature in Location "...." is "...." C  "....." F

Thank you