Re: If not Ada, what else...

[Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>]

Georg Bauhaus <bauhaus@futureapps.invalid> writes:
> why would C, say, be better for prototyping than Ada? When would SETL,
> or Python, or BigEEMathSimPack be better suited?

See:

    Haskell vs. Ada vs.  C++ vs. Awk vs. ...: An Experiment in Software
    Prototyping Productivity

    by Paul Hudak and Mark P. Jones

    http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~apt/cs457_2005/hudak-jones.pdf

> How is a prototype useful when the language used for prototyping
> tends to vaporize the Why-and-How of its choices and structure?)

It lets you test out the intended program features and solidify the
specification.  In fact you often don't start with much of a
specification at all, but rather just a general idea of what you're
trying to do.  Then you try things out, squeeze things in, get feedback
from users and iterate the design, etc.  At the end you've got something
you can use as a reference when figuring out what a more permanent
version should do.  It's like making a pencil sketch before starting an
oil painting.