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On Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT, @eWEEKNews will host its 61st monthly #eWEEKChat. The topic will be, “The Lowdown on No- and Low-Code Development.” It will be moderated by Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK’s editor of features and analysis.
Some quick facts:
Topic: #eWEEKchat Nov. 8: “The Lowdown on No- and Low-Code Development”
Date/time: Nov. 8, 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST/7 p.m. GMT
Tweetchat handle: Use #eWEEKChat to follow/participate, but it’s easier and more efficient to use real-time chat room links.
Chat room real-time link: Use http://www.tchat.io/rooms/eweekchat. Sign in via Twitter and use #eweekchat for the identifier.
‘The Lowdown on No- and Low-Code Development’
It’s not that anybody is against the idea of using code in information technology. After all, nothing would work at all without all that carefully-crafted computer literature. In fact, code and data together comprise the lifeblood of all computing.
Over time, however, IT experts have found ways to pre-configure and embed code snippets into applications so that people using the apps have everything set up for them in order to save time and effort. Because so much good software has already been written and doesn’t need to be re-invented each time it is installed, the idea of “no-code” or “low-code” application development—built upon the idea of reusing existing application components with instructions on how to fine tune it—has become an important thing. This is not necessarily new, but it certainly has been re-born.
No- and low-code development signifies software that’s complicated under the hood yet has a user interface simple enough for line-of-business employees to modify and use. With low-code development, non-IT folks can build and customize standard business applications and make them directly relevant to the business they do every day–at their desks or on location somewhere else. Drop-down menus and wizards used in an intuitive fashion are the keys to low-code. Changes are made in real time so that results can happen in real time.
No- and low-code is parallel to something we’ve been covering in eWEEK for a while: citizen development, in which non-IT personnel at companies are able to customize all or parts of a business application in order to make using it a better, more satisfying experience for everybody concerned.
Companies that are competing in this space include Appian, Webalo, Dell Boomi, Pegasystems, Google, Telerik, QuickBase, K2, Appery.io and several others.
Appian Decision Designer, one of the more popular toolsets right now, is designed to make it easy for non-technical people to compose the complex business logic that drives intelligent business processes. Appian Integration Designer aims to enable users to create re-usable integration points across enterprise systems in an intuitive low-code design manner.
It’s All About Agile Development
This all folds into the idea of agile development–constantly refreshing apps as often as necessary to keep them sharp and as effective as possible. Workers on the front lines—the ones who actually use these apps in their business every day—don’t have much time to reconfigure software, but they can make adjustments on the fly when necessary.
In this month’s #eWEEKchat, we’ll be asking the following questions:
- What low- or no-code platforms and applications are you currently using at home and at work? What is working well, or not so well, for you?
- What new no- or low-code functions and products would you like to see become available?
- What issues are you seeing—and solving—in low-code app development?
- Do you see this becoming more mainstream in the future? Why or why not?
- Can you offer an example of a low- or no-code application that you work—or have worked with—previously?
Join us Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. GMT for an hour. You should expect to learn something valuable.