There is a lot of talk about the future of low-code platforms in the open source world, but it is not away from us. Early stage developers develop apps and technology solutions with no programming knowledge, using platforms for developing low-code codes. Citizen developers can use low-code platforms with minimal training to share their business vision and applications. The rise of citizen developers as power users has led to a significant increase in the number of open source projects and the growth of the open source community. Today we look at the future of positioning low codes and code space for the next generation of high-tech applications such as mobile phones, the web and the cloud.

Low-code development platform is an application that helps in the fast development of code by minimizing hand-coding efforts. These platforms not only help with coding but also with the quick setup and deployment. Low-code development platforms (or rapid-application development platforms) helps developers to build simple process applications with little oversight. These tools simplify the application building process, and are frequently used for simple process applications.

Market Demand

As demand for low-code platforms continues to grow, developers will find that they will increase to meet this demand. It doesn’t matter if the developers are on board with the change or not; change is the path of least resistance. Where we are now is just the beginning of the new solutions that Low Codes and Platforms will deliver in the future.

The market is very keen to enable business professionals to provide mobile apps to all kinds of people, because there are low-code platforms that are designed for them. As more and more companies rely on low-code for their mobile app development needs, more and more myths will emerge. OutSystems is one of the first and most successful examples of a low-code platform that provides the extensibility required for apps. It is a great example of an open source platform with a high level of support for developers and users.

There’s the whole Buddhist thing about the essence of a bowl being its emptiness—that’s why it’s useful. Its emptiness allows it to hold something. I guess that means that design must talk about something else. If you make design about design, you’re just stacking bowls, and that’s not what bowls are for.

Minimum Viable Product

A low-code platform can help development teams build cross-platform applications using the same toolkit. As the name suggests, a low-code platform requires niche programming skills to use the platform for immediate business needs. These platforms enable developers to quickly develop viable products (MVPs) and explore new ideas faster and cost-effectively. It is intended to serve as a platform to empower more people to develop the software tools they need to do their jobs more effectively. By building highly customized, scalable and secure solutions, companies can position themselves successfully for the long term.

At the highest level, a low-code platform helps companies to better prepare for a bold future of software development. By using high-level tools such as Java and Java EE, Java development teams can focus more on innovation and meet the needs of the modern company.

Gartner estimates that by 2020, more than 80% of all new enterprise apps in the US will be created with a high productivity tool and low code platforms. It is therefore no surprise that low-code platform is the future of the enterprise app, as it increases efficiency. With COVID 19, low-code platforms like Appian can help companies develop tailored software that can make changes quickly. Unlike platforms that have been developed with other technologies, developers of low-code platforms need to connect their platforms to create more data sources.

 

Let’s look at the industry’s top 6 low code platforms

Mendix

Mendix is a low code and high productive platform, which allows you to transform how your business innovates as well as competes with apps. With its visual models, you can build apps fast and effortlessly. It allows a wide range of professionals from developers to business analysts, to make innovative apps without the need for complex code.Mendix formed in 2005 to transform the way lines of business collaborate with IT development teams to deliver applications easier and faster for developers and also create applications using a model driven approach. The main aim of Mendix is to accelerate the app development process with best practices and a comprehensive set of tools for developing, testing, deploying & iterating. As it is a cloud-native architecture, you can deploy your apps on on-premise or any cloud with a single click.

Benefits of Mendix

  • First low-code platform to support AI-assisted development
  • No-code collaboration with Mendix Studio
  • Dedicated Model API & SDK
  • Cloud Foundry support
  • Rapid/ One-click cloud deployment
  • Integrated app store

Salesforce

Force.com embeds an app development platform that enables users to develop powerful enterprise apps without the need to write any code. Drop components in Lightning App Builder and Schema Builder allow you to modify data objects and relationships, but Salesforce describes them as a "no-code platform.The company's Heroku cloud platform enables users to design and operate scalable back-end services. The company also offers a mobile SDK that allows you to quickly create next-generation apps. It is second on our list because it has the ability to create Android apps and publish them in app stores. Android, iOS and web apps can also be created and published on the App Store with the help of advanced mobile app developers.

Benefits of salesforce

  • Faster App Development: Salesforce Lightning low code platform makes it easy for non-technical employees to build an app. This allows businesses to reduce the time associated with app development cycles by not requiring app developers for building every app.
  • Better Resource Management: With the Lightning platform, all departments can develop their own apps by freeing up IT to focus on their core tasks/initiatives.
  • Cost Optimization: Businesses can work with a small team as the majority of app development tasks can now be done with the minimal effort.
  • Better Customer Engagement & Experience: Salesforce Lightning allows businesses to quickly roll out more customer-centric apps to enhance the customer experience by building niche apps.

Outsystems

Engineers with an obsessive attention to detail develop every aspect of the OutSystems platform to help organizations build enterprise-specific apps. OutSystems is the only solution that combines the power of low-code development with advanced mobile capabilities, allowing you to easily integrate entire applications into existing systems. OutSystems is an open source platform with its own IDE and extensive functionality and is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows Phone, Android and iOS.

Benefits of outsystems

  • Speed: Develop full-stack and mobile apps incredibly fast and deploy with one click
  • Acceleration: Manage app development without re-coding every component
  • Agility with Market Changes: Develop, validate, quickly-fail, learn and develop another one with short development cycles
  • Minimize Financial Risk: Use out systems low code platform with a relatively small up-front investment
  • Built-in Security: Outsystems low code platform ensures apps are safe all the way from design to deployment with the latest app security features

Oracle

To democratize app development, Oracle has introduced Project Visual Code, which allows business users to quickly and easily develop and expand enterprise applications. This innovative new platform allows customers to develop, expand and publish stand-alone applications, or develop and publish outstanding applications by visually creating or publishing new integrated applications to meet business needs. With Project visual code, customers can use a library of responsive user interface components, share them through the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, and add features that can be embedded directly into their own applications or even existing Oracle cloud applications such as databases, databases, and cloud services.

Benefits of Oracle

  • Intuitive Developer Experience
  • Easy Page Design
  • World Class UI
  • Immediate Results

Buildfire

BuildFire is one of the most trusted developers of code apps on the market, allowing users to create and publish mobile apps in a few days without any hassle. With minimal encoding, business users and citizen developers can create the applications they need for their own businesses. It allows small businesses to create mobile applications, web apps and even PWAS applications for mobile devices in just minutes.Mobile apps can be developed in a fraction of the time and cost using BuildFire’s powerful and easy to use mobile app builder platform. It is simple and intuitive app builder - No coding required. You can build custom functionality with our developer SDK.

Benefits of Buildfire

  • Organizations tend to develop a quick cookie cutter app that offer limited functionality. But BuildFire offers simplicity of DIY app development and fully custom app development features
  • Companies can leverage hundreds of out-of-the-box features available in buildfire’s marketplace to start adding robust functionality.
  • Rapid Prototyping and Real Time Preview is possible with buildfire. It makes prototyping a breeze and allows you to rapidly experiment with new ideas and designs.

Appian

Appian is popular with many app developers worldwide and helps improve the user experience, achieve operational excellence and simplify global risk conformity. Appian offers a free trial version that lets you set up your app only in the cloud, and the cloud-based app builder is easy to master even for beginners. Developers can use it to develop and operate scalable back-end services, and Appian also supports Outsystems and Mendix as part of its mobile app development platform.Application development is expedited with visual representations of processes. These visual models are easier to understand than traditional displays, which allows citizen developers to grasp application design easily.

Benefits of Appian

  • Drag-and-drop interfaces
  • Instant mobility
  • Declarative Tools
  • Security and Scalability

Conclusion

It is a good idea to choose a platform that offers the ability to scale almost any application component independently of dependencies. It combines web – scaling – time architecture that enables flexible scaling on demand on a larger user base, with high – performance, low – cost and scalable – application development.Not all vendors offer this capability, but it has become a must for the development of enterprise software. Almost all of the platforms listed are cloud-based, although most market leaders also have an integrated development environment for desktop-based development. The whole process is more like programming than developing web applications: the platform makes itself available and does not make its programming available to developers. If you have a fully managed cloud, a free trial for paid users and a subscription version is a must. Unlike previous low-code products that let you deploy your application or apps in the public cloud or on the premises.

Sources

[0]: https://www.apriorit.com/dev-blog/617-web-top-best-lcdps-2019[1]: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190813005350/en/Low-Code-Future---OutSystems-Named-Leader-2019[2]: https://hackernoon.com/10-low-code-and-no-code-application-development-platforms-ew513y8q[3]: https://enterprise-cio.com/news/2018/mar/26/low-code-development-platforms-pain-or-gain/[4]: https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/top-10-low-code-platforms/[5]: https://www.predictiveanalyticstoday.com/top-low-code-development-platforms/[6]: https://adtmag.com/blogs/dev-watch/2017/05/low-code-tools.aspx[7]: https://addo.io/blog/article/top-5-key-requirements-great-low-code-development-platform[8]: https://www.outsystems.com/blog/posts/best-low-code-development-platforms/

 
 
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