Is Low-Code the Future of Programming?
Will Developers still be needed in 2030?
LC/NC Revolution?
In the past year of 2021 there has been a lot of buzz about low/no code programming. It’s a bit entertaining right, low code and no code have equal amounts of hype and skepticism.
Low-code is a visual approach to software development that optimizes the entire development process to accelerate delivery. With low-code, you can abstract and automate every step of the application lifecycle to streamline the deployment of a variety of solutions. By breaking down traditional silos of business and IT (promoting continuous collaboration), your organization can develop solutions that meet the needs of your business.
Programming at scale with rapid time to value propositions.
Benefits of Low-Code Development
Rapidly deliver apps that your business needs with the existing talent
Improved agility: Operating at digital speed means creating the app capabilities users require to function smoothly across multiple devices.
Improve developer productivity with low-code attributes, such as a development toolkit (based on developer experience), a visual user interface, reusable components, and more.
Fostering Cloud-native architectures: Build maintainable solutions that are easy to scale on cloud-native architecture
Partnership based: Break down silos to foster a strong business-IT partnership
Lower Costs: With the ability to build more apps in less time, costs decrease.
More Automation: Low-code development reduces the need for more developers, reducing hiring costs. Some IT workers will be able to do it.
What is No-Code Programming Tools?
Leading low-code systems provide OOTB (out-of-the-box) functionality, which eliminates the need to build core modules for apps from scratch. The idea here is that on the whole, creating apps using visual methods and models is faster than developing using code.
Clearly all-in-one low-code platforms are going to become more popular a thing. Even the future of RPA suggests this. RPA stands for robotic process automation and is helping automate some tasks in many different industries.
Applications in Industry and Digital Transformation
For several decades, organizations have had two alternatives when they needed new information systems. They could build a new system using their own developers, or they could buy a system from an external vendor.
Today, however, there is a third alternative that is becoming increasingly popular. Low code/no code (LC/NC) applications can provide a close fit to business requirements, can be implemented quickly, and typically cost much less than systems developed in-house.
The no-code revolution could also be an automation story in the lives of developers and programmers if it catches on.
No-code programming could democratize software at a possible costs of developer and programming jobs.
The Promise of NC/LC to the Democratization of Software
The thesis is in industry you’d just have to build what you want. With point-and-click or pull-down menu interfaces, users can usually design and implement their individual or departmental systems in a few hours. The software may also have a conversational or search interface. Few, if any, programming skills are thus required.
Low-code and no-code platforms thus promise to make app and software development accessible to more people. Just like RPA, I think no code platforms have a good future. But with automation, new jobs are also created.
No-code platforms are exactly what they sound like — platforms that don’t require you to use any coding to develop applications. That means you can know absolutely nothing about how to code and still create an app. As apps get more intelligent it’s possible A.I. will also enable LC platforms to become smarter over time.
Garter said low-code technology market grew about 20% in 2021. How much could it grow in 2022?
RPA Leads the NC Platform Software Democratization Movement
Think about RPA for a moment here.
Robotic process automation (RPA), for example, is one of the fastest-growing categories of LC/NC systems.
Using rules for simple decision-making, it allows users to design automated workflows that can reach into multiple information systems. This is excellent for automating back-office administrative processes. Some RPA tools offer advanced features that aid discovery of automation opportunities or connectors to AI tools to create what some now call “intelligent” or “augmented” automation.
I don’t actually think RPA is a form of NC platform, but it’s similar. RPA would generally be classified as low-code, but there are “light” versions of the software that are no-code, which are closer to “plug and play” but offer fewer options for customization and scalability.
At the intersection of business and software and the democratization of software and A.I. however it’s worth thinking about NC/LC and the potential of RPA to augment and automate some of our tasks in a digital transformation native environment, i.e. the Cloud.
In an environment of the Great Resignation and many unfilled jobs here NC platforms can solve an increasing problem. For many companies, this can help them digitize and automate tasks and processes faster than trying to hire and onboard hard-to-source development talent.
A day might come when IT will be possible with IT and A.I. might help us automate the software development processes we need with less people. This so called so-called "citizen developers" scenario would democratize software and enable new startups to be founded and be scaled faster.