For web stuff, my personal go to choice is Node.js and some templating engine, like Handlebars. I used that on several occasions to quickly hack together stuff

For web stuff, my personal go to choice is Node.js and some templating engine, like Handlebars. I used that on several occasions to quickly hack together stuff and see what an actual integration with some service looks like. Then i move straight to Java. How does that defines as prototyping, i'd leave for the semantics patrol. Reiterating "personal choice."