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

• 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

• Airtable
• Retool
• Smartsheet
• Notion
• Quickbase

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