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Low-Code and Software Quality

Thomas Hansen on October 20, 2022

There exists a lot of misconceptions about Low-Code. Some of the objections I have heard is that you can only use Low-Code for smaller projects, yo...
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Aaron Reese

The problem with lo code is not necessarily the platform and all the points you made are valid. The issue is the target audience. Power Users and Citizen developers are a fallacy and giving them the ability to create solutions without oversight from IT is asking for trouble.
Typically these solutions have:
No cost justification
No business analysis
No impact assessment
Assume perfect data
No defensive programming
No error logging
No source code control
No tests
No deployment pipeline
No documentation

These are all seen by end users (who have to wait months for IT to deliver solutions) as impediments to getting what they need but are fundamental to the good governance and 'profession' of software developer

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Thomas Hansen

These are all valid points, but 90% of them are only valid for No-Code. Low-Code has its range of problems, but not the ones you mention here. Low-Code requires a developer. The automatically generated code can easily be versioned in Git for instance, and such projects have PMs usually and project goals and oversight. They're simply 10x better on all parameters. This is the only difference really ...

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david wyatt

I think low code is just the next level, as we moved from machine to low-level to high-level, we are now moving to LowCode (and eventually no code). We don't lose features, we standardized (any missing features are more to do with either the platform or immaturity). As you said the benefits of that standardized code is immense (it's why npm is so popular).
As with all coding languages, Dev's can be triable, and dismissive of other languages/frameworks, LowCode is often just the easy target.

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Thomas Hansen

Smart comment. I've been around long enough to remember Motorola 6800, and creating ASM code for it. Today such an approach would be madness. Low-Code is simply the next step on the ladder. 20 years ago garbage collectors were considered "garbage" by anyone serious. Today I don't know a single dev not using some GC ...