Editing Software prototyping (section)

==Overview==
The purpose of a prototype is to allow users of the software to evaluate developers' proposals for the design of the eventual product by actually trying them out, rather than having to interpret and evaluate the design based on descriptions. Software prototyping provides an understanding of the software's functions and potential threats or issues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ingsoftware.com/software-prototyping|title=Software Prototyping - INGSOFTWARE|website=ingsoftware.com|language=en|access-date=2018-06-27}}</ref> Prototyping can also be used by end users to describe and prove requirements that have not been considered, and that can be a key factor in the commercial relationship between developers and their clients.<ref>Smith MF ''Software Prototyping: Adoption, Practice and Management''. McGraw-Hill, London (1991).</ref> [[Interaction design]] in particular makes heavy use of prototyping with that goal.

This process is in contrast with the 1960s and 1970s monolithic development cycle of building the entire program first and then working out any inconsistencies between design and implementation, which led to higher software costs and poor estimates of time and cost.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}} The monolithic approach has been dubbed the "Slaying the (software) Dragon" technique, since it assumes that the software designer and developer is a single hero who has to slay the entire dragon alone. Prototyping can also avoid the great expense and difficulty of having to change a finished software product.

The practice of prototyping is one of the points [[Frederick P. Brooks]] makes in his 1975 book ''[[The Mythical Man-Month]]'' and his 10-year anniversary article "[[No Silver Bullet]]".

An early example of large-scale software prototyping was the implementation of NYU's Ada/ED translator for the [[Ada (programming language)|Ada programming language]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Robert B. K. |last1=Dewar |first2=Gerald A. |last2=Fisher Jr. |first3=Edmond |last3=Schonberg |first4=Robert |last4=Froelich |first5=Stephen |last5=Bryant |first6=Clinton F. |last6=Goss |first7=Michael |last7=Burke |title=Proceeding of the ACM-SIGPLAN symposium on Ada programming language - SIGPLAN '80 |chapter=The NYU Ada translator and interpreter |volume=15 |issue=11 |pages=194–201 |date=November 1980 |isbn=0-89791-030-3 |doi=10.1145/948632.948659|s2cid=10586359 }}</ref> It was implemented in [[SETL]] with the intent of producing an executable semantic model for the Ada language, emphasizing clarity of design and user interface over speed and efficiency. The NYU Ada/ED system was the first validated Ada implementation, certified on April 11, 1983.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA136759 |title=Ada Compiler Validation Summary Report: NYU Ada/ED, Version 19.7 V-001 |author=SofTech Inc. |date=1983-04-11 |access-date=2010-12-16 |archive-date=2012-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312080046/http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA136759 |url-status=dead }}</ref>