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The apps and tools that let you create software without having to code…
Some of us code as a profession. Others code as a hobby. And still others code because they have no viable alternative!
Take the frustrated marketer… he or she knows what data they need and they can ‘see’ it in their head and maybe even get the concept on paper. But getting the attention and resources of an already overloaded IT team is, all too often, an insurmountable obstacle.
Enter no-code code…
Apps and tools like Webflow (shown above), and Microsoft’s Power Apps deliver substantial power to the non-coding workplace. It’s literally drag and drop development. And while the code may not be as ‘clean and tight’ as a purist might strive for, these tools get the job done with surprising speed.
Highly flexible and error tolerant software development…
Made a mistake? Missed something important? Not a problem. Slot it into the design now.
Contrast that with the chances of going back to the IT department and asking them to modify the program they already took three months to build for you! Or against the cost of a contract developer modifying his or her already expensive custom app!
(Coding) power to the people!
‘Bang for buck’ processing power increases constantly. My first PC cost the 2020 equivalent of $13,100. It had a mono 14″ monitor (amber), an x86 processor running a single megabyte of RAM (of which only 640k was available for applications), a 640k floppy disk drive and a whopping 44mb HDD. No, that’s not a typo… 44 megabyte Western Digital, state-of-the-art, hard disk drive, storage. #
I can buy a system literally 1,000 times more powerful today for a quarter the price. In fact, my smartphone is a 1,000 times more powerful than that PC!
That cheap processing power is what makes no-code coding possible.
“With more powerful computers, more accessible cloud computing services, and better programming languages, you can start building software that allows you to build software,” says Victor Kuppers, vice president of marketing at Betty Blocks, a product that enables no-code assembly of applications from components known as “blocks.”
According to research from Gartner, low-code and no-code application development using tools like Betty Blocks and Webflow will make up more than 65 percent of application development activity by 2024. Gartner forecasts that three out of four large enterprises will be using at least four low-code development tools by then.
Gartner.com
This move is also being driven by the very real shortage of IT skills. That shortage is only going to increase as our demands for software increase.
No code apps not only help get the right software on the job sooner, they also have the potential to drive down business costs. After all, letting that marketer or marketing team design, iterate and roll out that ‘perfect’ program should be the finance department’s nirvana!
“We’re moving into a world where people who understand the business situation the best or those who interact with customers the most will be building the product themselves,” says Emmanuel Straschnov, co-founder of no-code platform Bubble. “Given that technology is such a central part of our lives, more people should be able to create it. No-code development takes the power of creating software and spreads it among everyone.”
Are you ready?
# I had earlier tried working with an Apple II Plus with three daisy-chained floppy drives. It used to take a good 15 minutes just to boot up and find the peripherals. Ah… the good old days!!!
And while you’re down here, wanna buy some cheap classified data? Maybe you can find it on eBay the way this buyer did…
