Low-Code Development Environment

Through low-code app development methods, you can elevate coding from text to visual components.

Instead of using a technical coding environment, low-code environments operate in a drag-and-drop, model-driven interface. Whether you are a professional developer, novice developer, SME (Subject Matter Expert), decision maker, or a business stakeholder, you can easily use low-code environments to develop a cutting-edge business app.

Low-code development platforms abstract and automate each step of the application lifecycle. Hence, application development becomes more accessible for the users (with or without technical expertise). Let’s explore more about low-code development and environments.

What is low-code development?

Low code helps programmers with a visual and flexible environment to build simple to enterprise-level applications by using GUI. By using modern tools like pre-built templates, drag-and-drop modelers, intuitive UI, and more, the low-code development process allows developers to build and deploy apps faster.

Rather than using conventional hand-coded coding, a low-code framework provides a programming environment for developing apps using Graphical User Interfaces & related configurations.

Who are the Low-code developers?

Individuals without advanced coding or software/app development knowledge can use these low-code development environments to develop apps for different purposes like building mobile and business apps.

Using a suitable low-code framework can be used by non-tech users and developers to develop apps of a huge variety to accomplish market needs, and provide digital transformation.

Low-code development Features and Benefits

Low-code app development platforms have multiple advantages and features, such as:

Reusable components

Developers can create cross-platform projects with pre-configured modules, templates, logic, connectors, etc. Low-code app components can be easily customized and can be reused in different projects as well.

Benefits of reusable components:

• Faster and easier development
• They are pre-tested, so, you can use them directly in your next project
• It helps maintain consistency throughout the app

Visual modeling

The drag-and-drop feature and inherent visual UI make it feasible for coding experts to improve their development efficiency and for newbies to build different types of apps. Model-driven development helps you visualize how the app functions as it is being developed with launching with a one-click deployment.

Benefits of visual modeling:

• Other departments than IT can also contribute in the development
• Delivering continuous updates becomes easy
• Keeps your business agile

Software lifecycle management

Low-code tools support various phases of the software development lifecycle to streamline the project, its requirements, testing, version control, deployment, and more. These platforms incorporate Agile development and DevOps tools.

Benefits of software lifecycle management:

• Seamless execution of each phase of the software development lifecycle
• Accelerate different phases for speedy delivery by using abstraction and automation

What’s the future of low-code development- 2024 & beyond?

With the growth of low-code platforms, the technical phenomenon is anticipated to grow.

As per the reports of Gartner, by the year 2025, 70% of new apps can be developed using no-code or low-code technologies. That is 25% higher than 2020. This rise in LCAPs (Low-code App Platforms) is increasing the number of non-technical people being able to create analytics and technology capabilities for external and internal businesses

Additionally, the low-code global market is expected to grow around $65 billion within 3–4 years, and it can reach $187 billion by 2030. Based on these reports, you can estimate that the CAGR of low-code platforms can be 31.1% from 2020–30.

LCAPs have contributed a lot to the low-code development market in 2023. And they will continue to grow and redefine with continuous technological evolution.

After learning all these about low-code development, and before moving forward towards popular low-code environments, let’s see how to choose the most suitable low-code platform.

How to pick a low-code platform?

How to pick the right low-code development platform from multiple alternatives available in the market?

Primarily, low-code development platforms should be efficient to fulfill your project requirements. So, here are the key criteria on which you can pick a low-code platform:

• The low-code platform you choose to work with should have a collaborative IDE to keep the entire team collaborated
• It should have in-built tools to improve real-time collaboration between the IT and business teams
• Organizations have huge amounts of data across different teams. So, a low-code platform should integrate with the data source and systems for gathering the data.
• It should be feasible for developers to search, understand, and use information from internal and external sources (without data breach)
• Users expect a seamless experience while using the app through different devices. Low-code platforms should provide development & operational support for web apps, mobile, immersive, and other conversational experiences to improve UX.
• With the low-code platform, you can begin scalable development of cloud-native projects with the alternative to deploy on private, public, hybrid clouds, and on-premise.

These are some primary factors to consider while choosing the right fit for a low-code development environment.

Popular Low-code development Platforms

Here’s the list of well-known low-code development platform vendors:

• Zoho Creator
• Appian
• Dwkit
• Claris FileMaker
• Looker 7
• Google AppSheet
• Mendix
• OutSystems
• Microsoft PowerApps
• Salesforce Lightning
• Robocoder Rintagi
• Skyve Foundry
• Wix Editor X
• SIB Visions VisionX
• Yellowfin 9

There are specific industries where low-code development is highly preferable, such as education, healthcare, financial services, retail, and more.

Non-tech people can easily choose the most suitable platform and begin the development of their business projects.

Final Verdict

In conclusion, low-code development platforms/environments are becoming an essential technical advancement in the kingdom of software development, democratizing the overall process and helping a wider range of users to contribute to the build and deployment of their business apps. By minimizing the requirements for extensive coding knowledge, these platforms help businesses to carry forward their development cycles, increase agility, and support innovation.

The ability to quickly prototype, iterate, and deploy solutions aligns well with the demands of modern, fast-paced markets. As low-code platforms continue to evolve, they are poised to become indispensable tools in the technology landscape, bridging the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders, and driving a new era of digital transformation and efficiency.