O movimento No-Code e Low-Code: Revolução ou Limitação?

The No-Code and Low-Code movement: Revolution or Limitation?

While the idea of ​​minimal coding or no coding at all may seem like a dream for fast-paced projects and development of all types, is it really the best choice for every development project?

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The mobile app market size had an estimated value of around $106.27 billion in 2018, and the mind-blowing numbers continue to rise as experts expect it to reach $407.31 billion by 2026. The rapid increase in Mobile app market size is mainly due to the ever-increasing number of mobile apps. of people who depend on them to carry out their daily tasks.

This requires faster development and deployment of mobile applications. Several technology companies have already built platforms that require little or no code when building apps to speed up the app development process. However, the “no-code and low-code movement” has limitations that make it practically impossible to build certain applications using this approach.

Building an app from scratch may require more resources, but it has several advantages that make it a better approach over no-code and low-code approaches. Many proponents of this movement see it as a kind of “coding revolution” to improve the development process. However, it doesn't really work that way.

The advantages of no-code and low-code platforms include:

  • They make app development faster
  • Both options reduce overall app development costs
  • Anyone with basic computer skills can use them to develop an application
  • Each platform reduces the time it takes to turn your idea into a working app
  • They enhance rapid prototyping and testing ideas

What does no code mean?

No-code development is the approach of building applications without traditional coding. No-code platforms have several models that give users the ability to create their applications without writing a single line of code. Some of the popular no-code platforms include Microsoft Power Apps, QuickBase, and Zoho Creator.

These platforms allow people without programming knowledge to build their applications, saving them money and, sometimes, time. No-code platforms also offer a wide variety of templates that users can choose from depending on the type of application they are trying to develop.

What is low code development?

Low-code is the approach of building applications without writing code for each section of the application from scratch. Low-code platforms are for people with a certain level of programming knowledge because they require writing a few lines of code to speed up and customize the application. Some examples of low-code platforms include Salesforce Lighting, OutSystems, and Mendix.

Limitations of the No-Code and Low-Code movement

Despite the many advantages of the no-code and low-code approach, each type of platform has several limitations that affect the overall end-user experience of applications built using this approach. Some of these limitations include:

1. Limited customization – No-code and low-code platforms offer templates that developers can customize to create unique applications. However, there is always a limit to how much you can customize a template to fit the intended purpose of your ongoing application. Therefore, developers need to rely on the functionality built into the models.
This means that no-code and low-code platforms need to imagine all possible usage scenarios to build an application, which is often impossible. This limits developers' creativity.

2. Challenges with integrations – There are not many applications that can run independently without communicating with other applications on the web. For example, an app like Uber cannot perform its role without getting data from Google Maps. With no-code and low-code platforms, platform providers predetermine the integrations in each model.
Users may not integrate any API or external application that was not considered by the platform provider when creating a given application model. This means that developers need to wait for the no-code and low-code platform provider to add the integrations to their templates before including them in their applications. This limits the functionality of applications created with this approach.

3. Supports inexperienced and unprofessional development – ​​No-code and low-code platforms are aimed at people with limited or no computer programming knowledge. It is also true that there are some professional developers who use these platforms to speed up the development process.

However, most people who use them are generally ordinary people with no programming knowledge. This results in low-quality results as most of these ordinary people (citizen developers) do not have a good understanding of the minimum standards for building certain applications.

4. Low Security – Choosing to use a no-code or low-code platform to build an app can lead to many security holes. It is not an easy task to create a very secure model used to build thousands of applications.

If security is something that the development team, customer, and users truly value, building an app using no-code and low-code platforms shouldn't be an option. Having the freedom to build an app from scratch gives developers the opportunity to add security features to the front end and back end of the app.

5. High levels of inefficiency – An application created with a template does not allow the developer to fully customize how the application uses resources. Applications created with the no-code and low-code approach generally consume more computing resources (RAM and CPU) and power than those created from scratch.

If someone wants to build applications with a lot of functionality but limited computational demands, using no-code and low-code platforms should not be an option.

Not a revolution – yet?

There are undoubtedly several positives to using no-code and low-code approaches to creating applications. However, these positive aspects come at the expense of application functionality, user experience, and security, which are obviously important items to consider. These platforms can save you money and time needed to create an app, but the negative effects they create in the future make this approach ineffective in the long run.

That said, no-code and low-code approaches are ideal for simple applications with basic functionality and no security risks. For example, they are great for creating a simple offline calculator app. However, if the intention is to build a sophisticated application with diverse functionalities and security threats, creating it from scratch is the way to go.

It's safe to say that the no-code and low-code movement is just beginning. The world has not yet seen what will result from these platforms and how they will change the development of the future. For now, only time will tell.

Source: BairesDev

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