Developers spend an inordinate amount of their valuable time in peripheral app development activities such as environment setup, testing, securing, and maintaining their code and other operational tasks. It is disconcerting how little time developers have to innovate and leverage their craft for actual coding. It is no wonder that IT teams around the world, have been grappling with the challenge of creating a development strategy that can free up development time and enhance innovation.
This is where low-code can make a powerful impact. With low-code platforms, developers can spend less time on mundane tasks like setup and tooling which allows them to spend more time on custom business logic, user experience, third-party integrations, and design.
But why then, are professional developers indecisive when it comes to low-code?
What are the concerns for professional developers when it comes to low-code?
Applications developed by serious IT teams require full-stack technologies, standards-based code, and a user experience that matches market needs. There is, however, a waiting period with traditional tools and methodologies.
It is not that professional developers are oblivious to the advantages that low-code brings to the table. However, there is a known hesitancy when it comes to the adoption of low-code by professional developers.
Among the developer community, low-code is perceived as a tool for citizen/business developers who are trying to create quick business solutions and automate mundane internal tasks. When it comes to platforms that can auto-generate code, it is usually met with skepticism and more importantly a lack of trust. For app development, professional developers do not want to compromise on the freedom of choosing the technology, the transparency with regard to the code, and the flexibility to integrate with internal and external ecosystems. Also, they find it hard to believe that low-code can create secure and industry-standard code.
The fear of not knowing what works under the hood is what truly torments the traditional programmer.
Alleviating the fears — what low-code platforms should do
Offer the code to the developer. Offer transparency.
Professional developers demand transparency and freedom. Not a proprietary codebase. Low-code platforms can put their fears to rest by giving them full access to the auto-generated code. Ownership and control are strictly a no-compromise zone for developers. Allowing developers to see and own the auto-generated code such that they can preview, change, export, import, and customize it, bring in the much-needed trust in the platform. In the event of an issue, a developer can get to the root of the problem and fix it, unlike closed platforms which do not give access to the error stack.
The flexibility of rapid app development, while having complete control over code is an unmatched advantage that only open low-code platforms can give.
No vendor lock-in……with no fine prints
Many low-code platforms claim to have no vendor lock-in. Some platforms offer non-editable code, some allow edits to the code but take away the freedom of deployment and some are so rigid that they border on the no-code space. Some have restrictions on the number of apps that can be developed with a single license. Some charge you for every consultation. The list of restrictions can be frustrating and frankly annoying.
Vendor lock-in is when a customer is entirely dependent on a platform that they cannot shift to another vendor without a substantial cost, real or perceived. Breaking free is a bitter and costly affair. So, if a low-code platform claims to be no vendor lock-in, it should have no restrictions at all. Not on the number of apps, not the number of users, or the access to the code.
Developers who can view the app-generated code in the Git repository should be able to “lift and shift” the source code and customize it on an IDE of their preferred choice. They should be able to deploy it where they want to and maintain the code the way they want to. They should be able to integrate it with internal and external ecosystems. That in the true sense is ‘No Vendor Lock-In’.
If your low-code platform does not do this, it should not be claiming a lock-in-free environment.
Secure code cannot be an assumption
Continuing on trust, creating secure code based on industry standards is non-negotiable. Low-code platforms should get their app-generated code verified and certified by trusted app security leaders. Automated security tests like SAST, DAST, and SCA, leverage complete code coverage which means that they can test every line of code in both static and dynamic environments; also the generated code is protected against OWASP vulnerabilities including XSS, CSRF, and many more.
Code that is verified by an authority on app security, instills confidence in the professional developer’s mind allowing them to focus on business logic, innovation, and customer experience.
Create industry-standard quality code
Low-code generated app code must most importantly follow standards-based open-source frameworks and libraries. For instance, a combination of Spring for the backend and Angular for UI, or React Native for mobile development resonates with a full-stack developer. The familiarity with modern technologies helps them leverage the full-stack development process that they trust so deeply.
The twelve-factor app rules are the gold standard for the quality of an app. Low-code platforms that offer twelve-factor standards assure developers that the apps are of supreme quality. And it is not just the code, but the entire process of development to delivery that follows a set of rules and guidelines that professional developers truly appreciate.
Following proper naming conventions and coding standards, and getting the code quality tested with integrated third-party or even inbuilt tools empowers developers with the knowledge that the generated code is clean, safe, and of top quality.
Ideally, the app-generated code should look and behave no different from code that is hand-written by an experienced professional developer.
Seamless blending with the software ecosystem
Flexible low-code platforms will allow seamless integrations with existing testing, debugging, deployment & release pipelines such as Selenium, AppDynamics, Git, and Jenkins to name a few. Low-code tools should seamlessly integrate with the tools of these types. Low-code platform should offer a frictionless transition from a traditional development environment (Dev, QA, & DevOps have well-established processes with an ecosystem of tools).
The low-code platform must also enable easy integration with APIs, both internal and external. Once these complex APIs are imported into the platform, developers can componentize them to build compelling user experience (UI) components on top of them with low-code.
Summary
In essence, an open low-code platform that generates trustworthy and secure code, has a better resonance with professional developers and enterprises alike.
For professional developers, low-code platforms are a panacea to the latency woes of traditional development. In fact, we can go far as to say that an open, standards-based, secure low-code platform is a better alternative to traditional development, in that it can create apps of the same if not better quality in about half the time. A low-code developer can wear multiple hats serving as a front-end developer, back-end engineer, and DevOps engineer— all rolled into one, thus reducing the dependency on multiple skill sets. With an open low-code platform, leaner teams can churn out applications at a faster pace.
In fact, we need to shed the tunnel vision of looking at low-code platforms as a quick-fix tool to fix immediate problems. With a long-term strategy built around the right kind of low-code platform, professional developers and IT teams can imbibe the best practices of traditional development methodologies and create modern experiences; in about half the time. All that low-code platforms need to do is to gain the trust of the professional developer, with sound practices built around it.
Offering transparent, customizable, and secure code will go a long way in gaining that trust.