Low-Code Gains Popularity

Companies show more and more interest in having customized applications built for covering their specific business needs. They order software to handle and automise such business processes as sales and purchase management, billing, warehouse management, CRM, HRM etc. Such customized software used to be designed using traditional approach to application development which involves programming languages, frameworks, and middleware. However, such an approach is often unable to deliver the desired result in a reasonable amount of time. That is why companies are increasingly looking for the other, faster and more productive ways to get customized applications they need.

An alternative application development
As a result, the new alternatives to traditional application development methods are being designed. One of the common but working strategies is to reduce the amount of code and to use predefined code blocks to build custom apps from. This strategy has led to the emergence of low-code and no-code platforms that offer a new and unique approach to application development.

What is low-code exactly?
Low-code and no-code platforms both reduce the amount of code needed to make an app. Often, they don’t require using code at all. Instead, these platforms use graphical interface where you drag-and-drop application components to build an app. So, low-code is an application building technique which involves using predefined code blocks instead of writing code from scratch.

The features of low-code development
Low-code is SaaS-based, workflow-capable and agile, compared to the traditional application development technique. These features make it a considerable alternative for companies selecting a technique of developing software for business use. Moreover, low-code environment allows to design scalable applications which allows to address business needs and to meet the specified requirements of a particular company better.

How is no-code different?
No-code is very similar to low-code. No-code platforms also enable making complex business applications without writing code but their possibilities are slightly more limited. For instance, applications built on these platforms can only behave in a way designed by their developers. That makes functionality of such apps much narrower.

No coding required
When programming on no-code and low-code app builder, one does not need to be a coding expert. In fact, one does not need to know how to code at all. Instead, the platform provides you with all the instruments for making an app. All you do is drag-and-drop application components in a right way. For that, you surely need some basic knowledge of app building logic and instruments.

Starting from a template
If you doubt your skills, you can also make an app from predefined templates. Often low-code and no-code platforms offer templates such as a web shop or a hotel booking app, etc. You can modify certain app components without changing application logic. That way even business users without coding knowledge are able to make an app on low-code and no-code platforms.

The similarities between low-code and no-code
The emergence of the alternative application development technologies inspired business owners to involve citizen developers in the process of app creation. While hiring outside professional developers can be expensive and requires a lot of explanation and definition of the end goals and project requirements, companies tend to use their own employees for the same purpose. This tendency increases the popularity of shadow IT and the number of applications that the IT department of the company did not develop or was not aware of.

The perks of low-code programming
Low-code and no-code platforms allow to significantly speed up the software development process. The reason for that is that apps are being created using graphical interface elements instead of writing numerous lines of code. However, in some situations one still needs to incorporate hand-written code. Luckily, low-code platforms allow to do that. But for this purpose company needs to involve professional developers in the app building process.

What do developers say?
Professional developers are open to the new possibilities which enter the market, however they treat low-code and no-code platforms rather carefully. They believe that these instruments are targeting business users and don’t consider them to be a part of their usual development stack. Moreover, professional developers are also concerned about the code quality and software security and usability.

The key differences between the two platforms
While most of the features low-code and no-code platforms possess are the same, these two platforms also have some differences. For instance, low-code platforms use a constrained language mechanism to represent business logic, complex application flows and external service access, whereas no-code platforms offer limited configuration options for representing business logic, simple application flows, or accessing external services. But, all-in-all, the differences between the two platforms are not that distinct anymore.

To sum up, alternative application development technologies, such as low-code and no-code, increasingly gain popularity due to their simplicity, speed and cost of programming. Low-code and no-code platforms significantly reduce the time needed to deliver a high-quality business application to the end user. That is why companies show more and more interest in these technologies, which is estimated to only be increased in the upcoming years. And while one might need to involve professional developers at some point of the application development process, low-code and no-code approaches remain an interesting solution to rapidly changing needs of business.