The popularity of low-code development platforms in recent years has made many enterprises have great expectations for the rapid generation of applications, and many people even think that this is the beginning of the “killing” of programmers. However, is this really the case?
A low-code development platform is a tool that can quickly generate applications with little or no coding. Such platforms typically provide visual design tools to quickly build interfaces, design data models, and create business logic and workflows. There are companies in the market that call the coding-free model a code-free development platform, which is essentially no different.
About low code development
Theoretically, low code development platform can better avoid some disadvantages of custom development and finished product software, and has certain advantages in terms of labor cost and time cost, that is, less time to develop more powerful software products.
In the field of low code development, there are many mature platforms in foreign countries, while in China, this trend has only started in recent years, there is no bellwether enterprise, but there are not a few start-up companies specializing in this. At the same time, some manufacturers with low code development ability, also began to emphasize their “low code” identity.
As a new track in enterprise services, low code development platforms are gaining popularity.
Are these platforms really that good?
Will the future kill programmers?
A revolution in traditional development models
With the rise of cloud computing and the in-depth development of the Internet, the combination of enterprise IT system and business has become closer. As new business models continue to emerge, IT product development capabilities are required to be more flexible.
In this case, because each big enterprise has a certain number of developers, its business is also unique, such as traditional software maker SAP, Oracle, ever did Best Practice (Best Practice), namely the successful experience of a company is copied to the other companies, no longer works, this just a low code development trend.
In fact, a low-code development platform isn’t about disrupting developers, it’s about freeing developers from heavy, repetitive code to participate in the more valuable parts of development.
Low code development platforms don’t kill developers so much as they kill traditional development.
Low code development platform, through graphical interface interaction to achieve application construction, visual operation, standardized configuration, can not only improve the efficiency of developers to develop information system, but also meet the business personnel without code basis for information development.
Of course, the code platform is not a panacea. When users encounter configurations that cannot be implemented on the platform, they can customize development, that is, they can develop their own features that are not available on the platform as needed. Therefore, an enterprise may need to concatenate a low-code environment with manual code.
Most low code development platforms can develop enterprise ERP, supply chain, finance, OA, human resources, and project management system applications.
Such a huge system engineering can be completed by two people in half a year, whereas it usually requires at least 10 people to work for more than a year in the traditional development way.
At the same time, low code can also solve the problem of too many software applications, too cluttered and data islands.
At present, there are roughly three service modes in this field in the domestic market:
The first type is to provide development services externally through low code development, which is similar to software development outsourcing, but this type of service provider is more efficient and cheaper.
The second category is low code development as a tool for ISVs, SI, SaaS enterprises, channel agents, consulting firms, etc., to improve their system deployment efficiency or to provide more complete solutions to customers.
Low code development the third class, turned into a platform, attract isvs and even individual developers to application development platform, and then to the enterprise customers to provide products and subsequent secondary development personalization service, and platform as the role of connection to enter into a unified standard and trading rules, and try to do both sides of supply and demand is big, It’s similar in form to the App Store, except it offers apis instead of apps, and serves businesses instead of individuals.
These three low-code services can be thought of as services, tools, and platforms. In fact, in order to educate the market, strive to survive, each low code manufacturers are trying to various service methods, constantly adjust the strategy and play.
This is a pragmatic approach, but it also faces a high technical threshold. There are too many domestic enterprises, business and IT environment are very complex, a product is difficult to achieve universal. Whenever a low-code development platform develops a new functional module, the framework and logic are designed in advance to deal with the various possibilities of high configurable requirements.
This is the challenge that a low code development platform must face as a large and complete PaaS engine. If the boundary of technology cannot be broken, it is difficult to achieve large-scale replication of products, and such service providers are easy to be reduced to project development outsourcing.
However, the low code development platform is something worth trying, building on the general trend that the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises is in full swing, and the market needs a more flexible, lower cost, and more efficient development solution. The upturn of this trend will eventually lead to a clearer market boundary for low code.