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Iteration Podcast

Low Code / No Code ✨

JP: Welcome to Iteration, a podcast about programming, development, and design.

  • JP Intro — Hi, I'm JP and I am a software engineer at an analytics startup. Today, I am joined by John:
  • John Intro — My name is John and I am a software developer based in Los Angeles CA

Today's topic

The "Codeless" movement, otherwise known as "Low Code / No Code"

Said another way: Is Bubble and GPT-3 coming to take all of our jobs?

We aren't talking about "Serverless" (Ex: Firebase / Aws Amplify / Parse) — Could be a good future episode.

NOT tools like Auth0 or Twillio

This is a "Full Stack" — No code app development framework in the cloud.

WYSIWYG for "Apps"

This isn't software!

Popular Codeless tools

Full "App" Development

Internal Tool replacements — Kind of mini-modern salesforce or filemaker clones

Domain Specific Codeless

Upsides of Low Code

  • Low Code / No Code is an incredible tool for going from 0-1.
  • All Notes

Downsides of Low Code

  • Low Code / No Code is most ideal for basic CRUD or internal simpler tools. Reading, updating and managing listings of data. Or — Very Domain specific (Shopify for eCommerce)
  • It can be very hard to maintain, since you don't "own" your stack.
  • Very very expensive to scale (Still cheaper than a team of Devs)
  • Tons and tons of gotchas

John's Opinion:

  • Prototype + Build V1 of everything you can with no-code or off the shelf systems. Get things in customers hands.

Biggest Issue — Low Code doesn't fix the Hard Part of Software

  • Notes

Other thoughts regarding of Low code

  • Non tech sees code as "Barrier" not "Force Multiplier"
  • Often times the time saved is actually due to the compromises made with a low-code / no code tool.
    • Examples of compromises include:

Recommendations for Using Low Code Tools

  • Accept the limitations
    • Spending too much time trying to solve for nit-picky edge-cases is likely to be a time suck here. Low-code / no-code will likely have rough edges and performance issues. Just embrace the hackyness.
  • Don't ignore best practices of user interviews, research and domain design.
    • Just because your not "coding" doesn't mean you shouldn't do your homework and have confidence before building. It's very easy to waste time building the wrong thing.
  • Think about the data and lock in
    • Where does data live? Is it secure? is it backed up? Is it in a silo? Can it be migrated / exported?

Popular Codeless Resources

Good Articles / Podcasts on Low code / no code

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