There was a time when putting up a website on the internet required a set of specialized skills and in-depth knowledge of an alphabet soup of terms, like HTML, CSS, and PHP. But nowadays, anyone can build and launch their own site in a matter of hours, with platforms like WordPress and Wix simplifying the process tremendously.
Something similar is happening with another aspect of modern life: app development. Creating and building apps, whether on web or mobile, have long been the domain of developers, requiring years of study and a comprehensive knowledge of programming languages like Python and Java.
However, the arrival of no-code development could change that.
What is no-code?
According to Ryan Chew, chief operating officer of Singapore government-supported deep tech ecosystem platform Tribe, the definition of no-code, in the broadest sense, is the ability to do any kind of computation or development without having to use any kind of code.
“With no-code, you have a visual way to develop applications where you can drag and drop and do computations without thinking about the actual programming language. You just use your own logic,” he explains.
No-code development platforms are very similar to website builders like Wix. Much like how it allows users to build websites simply by clicking on and dragging elements, and making adjustments to the site on an entirely visual platform, no-code platforms do the same with app development. There are numerous no-code tools available on the market such as Bubble and Airtable, among others, but at their core, they all do the same thing: enable users to build apps without any form of coding.
According to Hum Qing Ze, a product manager at Tribe, no-code provides a low-cost, less time-consuming way for companies to build apps. No-code has seen a surge of interest in recent years, as a result of the growing push toward digitization among businesses – a push that has been made more urgent by the Covid-19 pandemic. Enterprises are increasingly aware of the importance of going digital, and the value of being able to build applications that can benefit a business without going through the lengthy development process has been amplified.
Read the detailed article on Tech in Asia
