What is Low-Code Development (LCD)?
Let me give you an example. Schneider Electric used OutSystems, a low-code, rapid application development (RAD) platform, and managed to release 60 applications within 20 months, halving the development time by saving 650 days of effort in the first year alone.
As IT technology becomes a pillar in the global tide of information, software development, however, poses an obstacle due to its low efficiency contrary to the development of Moore’s Law. Low-code development will surely draw in big enterprises and capital once low cost and high efficiency are achieved. AWS, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Siemens, etc. have either launched low-code development platforms (LCDP, also known as LCAPs — low-code application development platforms) or plans to achieve low code through acquisitions. Outsystems rose to an industry unicorn as early as 2018 when it raised $360 from KKR, a private equity investment institution, and Goldman Sachs. Almost at the same time, Siemens bought the Dutch company Mendix for $700 million. According to the Magic Quadrant Report published by Gartner, an authoritative IT research and consulting company, in 2021, OutSystems, Mendix, Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow are all rated as leading companies in the field of low-code development.
Then, what is low-code development? This article hopes to shed some light on three aspects: a. the definition of low-code development, b. the difference between low code and no code, and c. the future trend of low-code applications.
Low-code development allows the development of applications with minimal codes, simply by visual modeling with drag-and-drop interfaces. Developers at various levels may set up web and mobile applications with drag-and-drop components and model-driven logic on graphical user interfaces. LCDPs lift code writing for non-technical developers and retrieve cumbersome underlying framework and infrastructure tasks in the development process for professional developers. Operation and IT developers can work together and create, iterate, and publish applications on the platform, but consuming only a very short time compared to traditional ways.
LCDPs are essentially tools designed to step up efficiency and bring down the cost of development. Gartner has a description for LCAPs in the Magic Quadrant Report: An LCAP is characterized by its use of model-driven or visual development paradigms supported by expression languages and possibly scripting… It is featured by several elements, such as model-driven, visual development, expression language, and scripting language, which can also be used as a criterion to tell how professional an LCAP is.
Back in 2012, Gartner put forward the concept of “Citizen Developer”. Microsoft, a company that practices low code and no code in many aspects, has been advocating the strategic concept of “everyone is a developer”. If you ever notice the Microsoft Build Developer Conference in recent two years, you will find out that, its Power Platform has been greatly updated. In 2021, Microsoft first integrated GPT-3, a large-scale language model of OpenAI, into Power Fx, a low-code programming language used by Power Apps. Needs input in normal language can be directly translated into Power Fx codes, making low-code tools accessible to a broader audience.
Differences between Low Code and No Code
Low code often goes side by side with no code (or “zero code”). If low code enables the creation of applications through the visual modeling of drag-pull-drag, where normal language entered by users is automatically converted into codes, then does no code mean the creation of applications without codes as the expression literally suggests?
But the fact is that the expression of no code was invented more as marketing propaganda than a technical term. The propaganda intends to reassure operation users that no programming expertise is required therein. In reality, no code is a rather broad concept, used to describe some development tools in sub-fields. The most common one is the application building platform (such as App Builder, etc.); it also refers to workflow tools such as online form tools or Lightstream (such as Airtable, AppSheet, Treelab, etc.). These tools are totally different types. At present, a “universal” no-code development platform does not exist and it may never arrive, as all software runs on logic, which is composed of codes. Both Gartner and Forrester have laid out clear criteria for LCDPs, although they are not yet standardized, such as compatibility with common scenarios (at least three layers, UI, logic, and data) and satisfaction of professional development needs. As the industry moves forward, uniform standards will surely arrive. As the market structure reveals itself, the focus will be pivoted to specific product types instead of the broad concept of no code.
To sum it up, no code is a totally different concept from low code. No code mainly targets operation personnel, who may refrain from any code, including low code. If they cannot write 100 lines of code, 10 lines also sound unsurmountable to them. And leading analysis institutions have reached the consensus that LCDPs are created mainly for professional developers. No code generally relates to a variety of tools for developing applications in sub-domains, while low code refers to a general development tool.
Future Trend of Low Code Development
Some people hail low-code development as the next-generation IT technology revolution. The Garner 2021 Magic Quadrant Report mentions that, by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020.
Nowadays, leading low-code enterprises, such as hpaPaaS enterprises published in Gartner Magic Quadrant Report, can be categorized into leading SaaS enterprises and common platform enterprises. The former includes Salesforce and ServiceNow, which map out its long-term development goal as improving the efficiency of product development and customized development, and building platform ecology. Leading common platform enterprises include OutSystems, Mendix, etc., which build platform tools that are applied to all application development scenarios.
LCDPs can be deployed in several ways, such as privatization deployment, private cloud deployment, public cloud ECS deployment, public cloud Docker deployment, and SaaS mode. As the systems get increasingly complex in various application scenarios, enterprises may demand more computing resources. Thus, it is hard to predict what kinds of applications users may develop on LCDPs. Cloud deployment enables switching on dozens of servers at one request in a second, which is difficult to achieve with local deployment. Meanwhile, low-code development can make business interconnection happen as future enterprises will usually operate in the same ecological environment. And the SaaS mode ensures more security than the privatization deployment mode.
Some professional programmers worry that LCDPs may not be strong enough, but the fact is vice versa. What LCDPs do is merely assemble repeatedly manufactured wheels into components in advance. You can still build up logic through configuration and codes or modify the front end through JavaScript and HTML5 as you want. So, whether low code may instill productivity to a large extent in the time-honored software development field? Let’s wait for the future to tell us.
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