[t0rb3n]

This is precisely not what Brooks meant by 'plan to throw one away'. Brooks point is, that you gather information while writing your prototype and incorporate the new-found knowledge into your second, hopefully sound, design.

Rees never learned anything new from the first system (what could he learn anyway, what he described sounds like a nightmare), but proceeded to implement it from scratch.

Funny thing, I'm reading 'The Mythical Man-Month' right now :D

[garethrees]

Yes, you've spotted the irony in the title :)

[t0rb3n]

Awesome read btw :>

[sp332]

Also, Brooks later said that if you can iterate your design over time, that's even better than "build one to throw away". This has been the focus of his more recent work like "The Design of Design".