The “no code” and “low code” movements come up over and over again because programming is now like writing: Yes, it is its own profession, but also yes, it permeates all other professions as software eats the world.
Languages and tools are user interfaces, and any time you have many different jobs to be done by many different people with many different contexts, it is natural to develop several different interfaces for what may appear to be the same work.
Thus, low-code and no-code. But!
Programming is more than just coding. It’s also all the activities AROUND the coding, including things like reviewing code before it is deployed, version control, reverting code, testing code, automated tests that also serve as DSLs for describing the behaviour of code, &c.
Robust no-code or low-code systems also need to address the needs that the systems and tooling that live around high-code serve.
They don’t need to do these things the exact same way, but it’s a Chesterton’s Fence situation: We shouldn’t just ignore those other systems, we should figure out why they exist and make sure that either we know those needs no longer exist, or address them another way.
Languages and tools are user interfaces, and any time you have many different jobs to be done by many different people with many different contexts, it is natural to develop several different interfaces for what may appear to be the same work.
Thus, low-code and no-code. But!
Programming is more than just coding. It’s also all the activities AROUND the coding, including things like reviewing code before it is deployed, version control, reverting code, testing code, automated tests that also serve as DSLs for describing the behaviour of code, &c.
Robust no-code or low-code systems also need to address the needs that the systems and tooling that live around high-code serve.
They don’t need to do these things the exact same way, but it’s a Chesterton’s Fence situation: We shouldn’t just ignore those other systems, we should figure out why they exist and make sure that either we know those needs no longer exist, or address them another way.
https://raganwald.com/2012/01/08/duck-programming.html
Discussion around the original post:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3442419