One example of where software prototyping helped me was deciding which library or framework to use. At my job, I had the option of two different Futures libraries to handle async, and I had to chose which to start using.
And I went off to write like a quick version using each and when I got to trying to handle consuming pagnated responses, it was a terrible terrible fit for one of the frameworks, and required only like 20 lines in the other.
I then took that back to the planning phase and used that to decide how the entire application was going to be structured, as we didn't want two competing frameworks.
A little downside, yeah, but these scripts can be easily toggled. What can't be easily done is finding my last timestamp in a 5h long vod when &t-in-history screws it up.
I mean I cut my teeth on RuneScape and it was the same kind of deal. I learned that cow hides rose in value as you bring them closer to the crafting centres and that middlemen who want to do it for you can take a generous cut for themselves.
This was the major upside to taking a seminar class where we read papers and discuss them. The prof tried to highlight some of these points. Not just seeing the graphs that are there but also the graphs they could have added but didn't.
What am I actually paying for? Is it "the entire speedometer" ie. 24/7 100% utilization of the advertised upload/download capability of the link? Why not?
Because that costs way more than you're paying for your connection. The business model is predicated upon oversuscription of the ISP's network because near enough nobody does that.
