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Prototype vs Precursor - What's the difference?

prototype | precursor |

As nouns the difference between prototype and precursor

is that prototype is an original object or form which is a basis for other objects, forms, or for its models and generalizations while precursor is that which precurses, a forerunner, a predecessor, an indicator of approaching events.

As a verb prototype

is to create a prototype of.

prototype

Noun

(en noun)
  • An original object or form which is a basis for other objects, forms, or for its models and generalizations
  • An early sample or model built to test a concept or process
  • The prototype had loose wires and rough edges, but it worked.
  • (semantics) An instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes.
  • A robin is a prototype of a bird; a penguin is not.
  • (computing) A declaration of a function that specifies the name, return type, and parameters but none of the body, or actual code.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * prototype theory

    Verb

    (prototyp)
  • To create a prototype of.
  • precursor

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (chiefly obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which precurses, a forerunner, a predecessor, an indicator of approaching events.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:
  • (chemistry) One of the compounds that participates in the chemical reaction that produces another compound.
  • Anagrams

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