Writing Code to Prototype, Ideate, and Discover
Joel Brandt, Philip J. Guo, Joel Lewenstein, Scott R. Klemmer, Mira Dontcheva · IEEE Software · 2009
People often write code to prototype, ideate, and discover. To do this, they work opportunistically, emphasizing speed and ease of development over code robustness and maintainability. Quickly hacking a program together can provide both practical and learning benefits for novices and experts: professional programmers and designers prototype to explore and communicate ideas, scientists program laboratory instruments, and entrepreneurs assemble complex spreadsheets to better understand their business. Their diverse activities share an emphasis on speed and ease of development over robustness and maintainability.