To code or not to code that is the question!
To code or not to code that is the question!
The answer found thru the lens of Frappe web-development framework - the most rapid and versatile Low-code web framework
TL;DR
A detailed look at Frappe framework - a low-code web and business app development framework, & the versatility it offers to non-developer citizen users to rapidly build meaningful web apps and workflows without any coding at all, at the same time giving the flexibility for coders to write a lot of code in order to give room for accommodating any limitations inherent to a strictly low-code no-code (LC-NC) system.
Why the LC-NC paradigm is great
In the recent years, the life cycle of software development is seeing a paradigm shift towards the emerging low-code no-code (by design) tools and frameworks cutting across the stack. The trend is seen from the backed DB tools, API tools, AI modelling tools to web / mobile and business process automation apps.
Some popular Low-code no-code platforms are
The main driver for the paradigm to have gained popularity is, for the fact that, it empowers citizen developers (non-coders) to develop software apps, and business workflows, bypassing any prerequisites for coding skills in order to rapidly create software apps and workflows, thus enabling mass adoption and democratization of software production. This type of requirement is increasingly gaining importance among enterprise users, especially in the era where lot of excel spreadsheet based enterprise use-cases are being replaced through the adoption of SaaS tools and apps. So the generation of excel power user-base are now a good sizeable target audience for these LCNC tools cater to.
The paradigm is here to stay and has already found its product market fit in empowering the next generation of enterprise software users with the right tools needed to succeed in the modern IT environment, dominated by digital apps and tools over spreadsheets.
Another benefit of Low-code no-code tools are that it helps in achieving fast and bug free development cycles - which is a great boon for the ever increasing digitization requirements of the modern day tech-enabled businesses of any scale. Because of the boundaries set for what a user can do, the development on such tools are almost 100% bug free - hence saving lot of time for testing for bugs (which is a huge effort saver in software development)
Limitations of low code
Most low code tools and frameworks works to solve a particular pointed problem in an opinionated way - but fails to accommodate for larger workflow surface area requirements that might arise during the course of digitization journey of any enterprise. Some of the limitations to that end can be:
领英推荐
The upside benefits of low-code sometimes hits a road block due to the above mentioned limitations
So is NCLC all that good? Is there a sweet spot?
The answer is Yes and No - No because - obviously for the restrictions that the LCNC impose as end-users scope of requirements widens (which is typical in almost all software situations), that will force you out to seek other solutions that can meet the evolving requirements in its entirety.
However what we need in reality is a best of both world solution - which gives enough degree of freedom to extend, inject and sprinkle code in order achieve the features where a rigid and strictly LCNC falls short.
Enterprise software vendors like SAP, NetSuite, Salesforce all have introduced their own flavour of LCNC feature into their product suite to cater to the many benefits that it affords to the end-users.
Frappe web framework is such a framework that is truly a sweet-spot framework for its “hybrid” versatile nature that allows for a good degree of freedom thus overcoming the limitations that generic LCNC tools poses.
Demo
Let us explore how the no code low code features of the frappe framework plays out through an actual demo:
A quick intro about us: We are?Tacten LLP— a Bangalore-India based company that offers full line of services around?ERPNext?and?Frappe. We are a team of software developers and domain experts with an obsessive focus on helping our customers exceptionally succeed with ERPNext and Frappe. Our primary area of expertise are in the Manufacturing and Healthcare domain. We have the extensive experience of implementing ERPNext for several domestic and international clients under our belt.