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
- https://bubble.io/ (Most Powerful, widely used)
- https://www.appsheet.com/
- https://www.glideapps.com/
- https://thunkable.com/
Internal Tool replacements — Kind of mini-modern salesforce or filemaker clones
Domain Specific Codeless
- Shopify ← eCommerce
- Sharetribe ← Build a Marketplace App
- Substack ← Paid Newsletters
- Mighty Networks ← Paid Communities
- Podia ← Sell online courses
- So so many more
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
- https://www.nocode.tech/ (Community and resource list)
- https://zeroqode.com/ (Templates — Literally Buy an Airbnb clone for $300)
Good Articles / Podcasts on Low code / no code
- Ryan Hoover: The Rise of No-Code
- Podcast: Going Codeless: Is this the way of the future?
- Forbes: The Low-Code/No-Code Movement: More Disruptive Than You Realize
Picks
- John — Lighthouse Chrome Dev Tools
- JP - https://github.com/kelseyhightower/nocode