Structural Validation
Structural validation is a software development concept that involves verifying the correctness of data structures, schemas, or object shapes against predefined rules or specifications. It ensures that data conforms to expected formats, types, and constraints before processing, commonly used in APIs, configuration files, and data pipelines. This differs from semantic validation, which checks the meaning or business logic of data.
Developers should use structural validation to prevent runtime errors, improve data integrity, and enhance security by catching malformed inputs early in applications. It is critical in scenarios like API request/response handling, database operations, and configuration management to ensure systems operate reliably with valid data structures.