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Design, Development and Testing

Prototyping the interface and the data model

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 1

Overview

Prototype in systems development, throwaway prototyping and evolutionary prototyping.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is a prototype in systems development?

Key term

Why is a prototype more useful than a written description for agreeing an interface?

Key term

What is throwaway prototyping?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is a prototype in systems development?

    Model answer

    A prototype is an early working model of part of a system, built quickly so that users can try it and say whether it meets their needs.

  2. 2

    Why is a prototype more useful than a written description for agreeing an interface?

    Model answer

    Users can only judge a screen properly by using it, and a working model exposes confusing layouts and missing controls that a written description hides.

  3. 3

    What is throwaway prototyping?

    Model answer

    Throwaway prototyping builds a rough model purely to settle the requirements, and the model is discarded once its lessons have been recorded, with the real system then built properly.

  4. 4

    What is evolutionary prototyping?

    Model answer

    Evolutionary prototyping refines the same model through repeated cycles of user feedback until it becomes the delivered system.

  5. 5

    Give one advantage of throwaway prototyping over evolutionary prototyping.

    Model answer

    A discarded model is not carried into the final product, so the shortcuts taken to build it quickly cannot leave weak or badly structured code in the delivered system.

  6. 6

    What is a horizontal prototype?

    Model answer

    A horizontal prototype shows the whole interface across all its screens with little or nothing working behind them, so the overall shape of the system can be reviewed.

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