Software prototyping

Software prototyping creates an early, simplified version of a software system to explore requirements, test design choices, or gather feedback before full development.

Low-fidelity prototype: A rough representation of a product, often made from sketches or simple wireframes. Its speed and low cost make it useful for testing broad ideas before implementation.
Usability testing: A method for evaluating how effectively people can use a product by observing them perform tasks. Prototype sessions reveal where intended interactions confuse or obstruct users.
User-centered design: An approach to design that bases decisions on users' needs, abilities, and contexts. Prototyping provides concrete artifacts for involving users throughout design.
Mockup: A static visual representation of a product's appearance, usually without working interactions. A mockup shows visual styling; an interactive prototype can also simulate behavior.
High-fidelity prototype: A detailed, interactive model that closely resembles a finished product's appearance or behavior. It helps test interaction details that rough sketches cannot reveal.
Requirements elicitation: The process of discovering and clarifying stakeholders' needs and constraints for a system. A concrete prototype helps stakeholders articulate requirements they struggle to describe abstractly.
Iterative design: A design process that improves a solution through repeated cycles of creation, evaluation, and revision. Prototype-based feedback supplies evidence for successive design revisions.
Wireframe: A simplified diagram of a digital interface's layout and content structure. A wireframe is a specific structural artifact, whereas prototyping includes many forms and purposes.
Throwaway prototyping: A development approach in which a prototype is built to explore an idea and discarded before production software is made. This approach keeps exploratory code separate from the final system.
Proof of concept: A small implementation that tests whether a proposed idea or technology is feasible. It tests technical feasibility, while many prototypes primarily explore user experience or requirements.

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PrototypingBroader topic: Interactive software models test workflows before complete implementation.