I think user246 gave a very good answer. However, I dare to speculate about the term modeling. We use the term to speak about creating a coded model of specifications you've got at hand before actually getting some code. So it's quite close to prototyping. There are also kind of very sophisticated tools for modeling as e.g. NModel (NModel homepage). In practice, I'd read through the specifications of a new feature (static method) and then, if the logic is very complicated to see through, I'd set up a little model program with NModel let it analyse my model for possible dead ends etc. (yes, it can do that). I personally don't use NModel often. Instead I write down a model of what the program is supposed to do, e.g. flowchart. Looking at the diagram or maybe already while building it I normally get a good feeling about where things can go wrong and bugs are likely to be found.

I think user246 gave a very good answer. However, I dare to speculate about the term modeling. We use the term to speak about creating a coded model of specifications you've got at hand before actually getting some code. So it's quite close to prototyping. There are also kind of very sophisticated tools for modeling as e.g. NModel (NModel homepage). In practice, I'd read through the specifications of a new feature (static method) and then, if the logic is very complicated to see through, I'd set up a little model program with NModel let it analyse my model for possible dead ends etc. (yes, it can do that). I personally don't use NModel often. Instead I write down a model of what the program is supposed to do, e.g. flowchart. This is also useful when there is already code which can then be used as spec, too. Looking at the diagram or maybe already while building it I normally get a good feeling about where things can go wrong and bugs are likely to be found.

I think user246 gave a very good answer. However, I dare to speculate about the term modeling. We use the term to speak about creating a coded model of specifications you've got at hand before actually getting some code. So it's quite close to prototyping. There are also kind of very sophisticated tools for modeling as e.g. NModel (NModel homepage).

I think user246 gave a very good answer. However, I dare to speculate about the term modeling. We use the term to speak about creating a coded model of specifications you've got at hand before actually getting some code. So it's quite close to prototyping. There are also kind of very sophisticated tools for modeling as e.g. NModel (NModel homepage). In practice, I'd read through the specifications of a new feature (static method) and then, if the logic is very complicated to see through, I'd set up a little model program with NModel let it analyse my model for possible dead ends etc. (yes, it can do that). I personally don't use NModel often. Instead I write down a model of what the program is supposed to do, e.g. flowchart. Looking at the diagram or maybe already while building it I normally get a good feeling about where things can go wrong and bugs are likely to be found.