What is Low Code? Low Code FAQs

Information and Helpful Resources for Mobile App Developers Exploring Faster App Development Methods

Low Code App Development Frequently Asked Questions

Alpha Software prides itself on enabling citizen developers and professional developers to build custom apps for web, desktop, and mobile that work online and offline.

We've assembled answers to questions about traditional vs. rapid development, the cheapest low-code platform, mobile app development FAQs, software development FAQs and more. We include Insights on: development teams, the development process, development environments, and future business applications.

What is Low Code Development and why is it important?

Low-code is a visual approach to software development that empowers your employees to create desktop, mobile, and web applications. This reduces the demands on IT departments and speeds up development workflows.

Unlike traditional coding, this innovative software allows professional programmers can build applications very rapidly and often add custom code as needed. This approach encourages collaboration between non-technical teams and professional development teams to create solutions.

Read more on low-code development and how it can be essential for IT departments.

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Application Development

Yes, you can create software applications with minimal coding knowledge. Employees can quickly and easily build enterprise web, mobile, or desktop applications using drag-and-drop or point-and-click components. 

Read more on how you can build apps with minimal coding knowledge.

Building an application typically takes from a few weeks to a couple of months. As a result, companies can build software applications six to twenty times faster than traditional development projects.

Read more on how long it takes to build a low-code app.

The term "low-code" was first used by research firm Forrester to describe platforms that offer rapid application development, set up and deployment.

Low-code platforms have intuitive tools that allow citizen developers and professional developers to build business apps with minimal hand-coding.

This software not only speeds up app development, but also creates an environment for maintaining, configuring, and deploying critical business applications.

Read more about low-code development platforms.

"Low-code" and "no-code" are often used interchangeably. However, there are important differences between the two:

  • Low-Code Development Tools Include Custom Code: Low-code platforms allow developers to add their own code as needed without hand-coding.
  • No-Code has Everything You Need To Build An App: No-code platforms come equipped with all the modules and tools to create functional apps.
  • No-Code Is For Business Users Only: No-code platforms, often drag and drop interfaces,  are typically used only by business users.
  • Low-Code Is Both For Professional Developers and Business Users: Professional developers and citizen developers can both use low-code platforms.
Read more on the differences between low-code and no-code.

Benefits of using this innovative development software include:

  1. Speed: Developers and business users can build and deploy applications rapidly with very few bottlenecks.
  2. Automation: Low-code applications can automate many of the routine, complex tasks for organizations in almost any industry.
  3. Coding Expertise Not Necessarily Required: Both developers and employees of a company can use this software. Business users can rapidly create apps to collect data, while developers can quickly create reports, workflows, and data analytics applications.  
Read more on the additional benefits of low-code.

Best Practices

  • Master Your Low-Code Platform: It’s important to master your low-code platform and understand its capabilities. Developers, employees, and stakeholders should all be involved in evaluating, selecting, and using the platform.
  • Start Small: If you're working with a low-code platform for the first time, start small by automating simple tasks.
  • Create a Robust Scaling Plan: It's important to create a solid scaling plan to get the most out of your low-code platform. Part of this is identifying business processes that, when automated, will provide the most value.
Read more on low-code tactics.

Choosing an app is much easier when you have clear criteria. An important first step is to clarify what you want to accomplish.

Other important questions to ask when shopping include:

  • Will the platform integrate easily with enterprise databases, business process software, workflow automation software, legacy systems, etc.?
  • Will you receive maximum productivity from an application that’s built on the no-code platform?
  • Will you be able to build web apps and pixel-perfect mobile apps that can function across multiple platforms on both iOS and Android devices?

Read more on how to select a low-code platform.

Low-Code Security

Leading solutions integrate application, infrastructure, and privacy controls to ensure that apps are protected from most web security risks and mobile threats.

Many solutions take care of the most common and serious security concerns; however, buyers beware. Always do careful research to ensure security is built-in to the platform you select. You'll need a more robust solution if you want role-based security, for example.

Read more on low-code security.

Common Low-Code Myths

  • It's Only For Citizen Developers: Many software engineers that this software is only for citizen developers that can't code. However, you can’t build enterprise apps quickly and at scale without professional developers.
  • It's A Trend That Will Fade: According to marketandmarkets.com, “The global low-code development platform market size is projected to grow from 13.2 billion in 2020 to 45.5 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28.1% during the forecast period”.
  • It Doesn't Allow Developers To Add Custom Code: Some assume that you can't add custom code. The truth is that many platforms generate code that can be adapted to produce custom apps.

Read more about common low-code myths.

Understanding the Market

No. In fact, low-code will increase the job market for developers. Developers play an important role in improving applications and ensuring they are secure. They are also crucial in supporting corporate digital transformation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the U.S. job market will create 316,000 new jobs for software developers, a phenomenal growth rate of 22%, or an average of about 31,000 new jobs each year.

Read more on how low-code will grow the developer job market.

The market is growing and will continue to grow. According to Gartner, rapid app development/ low-code development will grow to $18.3 billion this year. Verified Market Research forecast that the market will continue to grow more than 44% every year through 2026.

In addition to low-code application platforms (LCAPs), there are intelligent business management suites, multi-experience development platforms, and others on the market.

Read more on low-code software/rapid app development growth.

Learning the Software

The learning curve is shrinking. Products from Alpha Software let you turn your ideas into apps in minutes. By taking advantage of Alpha's videos, documentation, and online community of 17,000 software developers, learning how to build applications can be relatively quick and easy.

Read more about how a former mechanic created his own low-code development business using Alpha Software.

Cross Platform Apps

With these cross-platform app development platforms, your employees and professional developers can build apps that work on iSO and Android simultaneously. Citizen developers can build robust apps with greater ease, giving access to third-party APIs and modules for multiple platforms.

Read more on low-code’s capacity to build cross-platform applications.

Cross-platform app development tools are ideal for building customer-facing apps. This is because you can create a single interface and codebase, as well as quickly deploy your finished apps to iOS and Android devices. And to redeploy, all you have to do is simply update the codebase.

The advantage of cross-platform low-code systems is that they reduce development time because programmers don't have to learn multiple technologies to build an app, and because using a single codebase ultimately means less development work.

Read more on mobile application development.

Visual Software Development

Visual software development is an intuitive way to create applications. With a visual interface, users can create applications for mobile, desktop, and the web. Plus, developers can quickly build business solutions to automate arduous tasks.

Low-code and no-code platforms use a visual interface with drag-and-drop, point-and-click components to build business applications. Because they are visual and model-driven, users can learn to build applications faster than traditional development, which requires expertise in hand-coding.

Read more on visual software development.

Digital Transformation

These solutions play a central role in digital transformation by saving companies time and money on traditional development processes. The intuitive visual interface of these app development products enables employees with minimal coding experience to create almost any solution.

Read more on digital transformation.

Low-Code Costs

It is significantly cheaper to build applications on low-code platforms than traditional app development software, which can cost anywhere between $5,00 for a simple app to $60,000 for an enterprise app. Low-code platforms cost between $150 to $6,250 per month, with many companies offering free packages.

Alpha Anywhere Community Edition allows you to prototype, test, and build powerful web and mobile applications at no cost, with no obligation and without a credit card. You’ll only pay when you want to deploy your applications. Alpha Cloud plans start at just $99 per month. (Plans include hosting, Alpha Anywhere Server licensing, redundancy, monitoring, dev-op tools, and much more.)

Read more on app pricing compared to Alpha Anywhere.

Alpha Anywhere is the most affordable software in this market with the rich features and capabilities required by enterprise developers. Developers can build apps for free, then only pay when they're ready to publish to the app stores.Rich features like offline operation, mapping, on-device storage, security and more are built-in and don't require additional purchases. 

Microsoft PowerApps is another low-cost option, but advances capabilities cost extra, so buyers should be aware of hidden PowerApps costs.

Alpha Anywhere and Alpha TransForm

Yes, you can create software applications with minimal coding knowledge. Employees can quickly and easily build enterprise web, mobile, or desktop applications using drag-and-drop or point-and-click components. 

Read more on how you can build apps with minimal coding knowledge.

Building an application typically takes from a few weeks to a couple of months. As a result, companies can build software applications six to twenty times faster than traditional development projects.

Read more on how long it takes to build a low-code app.

The term "low-code" was first used by research firm Forrester to describe platforms that offer rapid application development, set up and deployment.

Low-code platforms have intuitive tools that allow citizen developers and professional developers to build business apps with minimal hand-coding.

This software not only speeds up app development, but also creates an environment for maintaining, configuring, and deploying critical business applications.

Read more about low-code development platforms.

"Low-code" and "no-code" are often used interchangeably. However, there are important differences between the two:

  • Low-Code Development Tools Include Custom Code: Low-code platforms allow developers to add their own code as needed without hand-coding.
  • No-Code has Everything You Need To Build An App: No-code platforms come equipped with all the modules and tools to create functional apps.
  • No-Code Is For Business Users Only: No-code platforms, often drag and drop interfaces,  are typically used only by business users.
  • Low-Code Is Both For Professional Developers and Business Users: Professional developers and citizen developers can both use low-code platforms.
Read more on the differences between low-code and no-code.

Benefits of using this innovative development software include:

  1. Speed: Developers and business users can build and deploy applications rapidly with very few bottlenecks.
  2. Automation: Low-code applications can automate many of the routine, complex tasks for organizations in almost any industry.
  3. Coding Expertise Not Necessarily Required: Both developers and employees of a company can use this software. Business users can rapidly create apps to collect data, while developers can quickly create reports, workflows, and data analytics applications.  
Read more on the additional benefits of low-code.

Two Great Low-Code Tools to Meet the Needs of Today's Businesses

Alpha Anywhere is an excellent and full-featured development platform. Download fearlessly because you can take your time turning your app ideas into real apps and only pay when you're ready to deploy an app. It can tie into corporate data sources, popular software, and business process management tools.

Low-Code App Development Platform | Alpha Anywhere

Start building apps for free with Alpha Anywhere Community Edition. 

 


 

The Alpha TransForm app maker is available on a free trial to help speed accurate data collection, workflows, and business analytics. Power users can even use its powerful programming language for building advanced features. The software produces cross-platform iOS and android apps. 

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