Learning newer programming languages and frameworks is not only beneficial for a more diverse skillset, but it can also often result in opening doors for your organization to enter growing spaces that often wouldn’t be explored otherwise.
Whether the concern to provide a technical solution is cost, time, or anything of the like, technology solutions are getting easier and cheaper than ever to learn and maintain.
.NET 6 and Blazor
Microsoft is rolling out their new version of .NET by the end of this year, named .NET 6, or Maui. A key feature of .NET 6 is an enhanced version of the latest web technology, Blazor, which largely allows .NET developers to develop JavaScript by using C#. You can also create Blazor components that are then allowed to be used across multiple applications, even native mobile.
.NET 6 will be a game-changer when it comes to efficiency and effectiveness for C# developers to build robust code not only on the backend/middleware tier, but also the front-end with Blazor. The key to the success of Blazor is C# developers being able to expand their front-end development capabilities.
Low-Code and No-Code
The issue then could be that your IT departments lacks C# developers and/or any true development team to begin with. This problem often arises in companies of smaller sizes. There are new tools available that allow “non-coders” to build applications in a quick and timely manner, with just a bit of training and research. This leads us to low-code, or no-code platforms.
Businesses are looking for technical solutions to solve everyday problems quickly and efficiently but were pigeonholed into using a large-scale enterprise-level solution or would have to spend thousands of dollars in development time and expertise to achieve this goal. Thus, the need (and ultimate rise) in low-code solution/platform offerings.
The term “low-code” doesn’t mean you do not have to understand best practices for coding standards or that you’re in the clear in terms of avoiding code altogether. It merely states that there are visual development tools for creating and maintaining GUI controls, and connecting to services, databases, APIs, etc.
These low-code solution offerings allow a development team to stand up an application in a fraction of the time it would be to create a custom application solution and cut down the time it would take to create a similar solution from scratch using C# or Java.
Microsoft Power Platform and Salesforce Development Platform
A couple of platforms we’ve dove into here at Eliassen Group include Microsoft’s Power Platform (PowerApps) and Salesforce’s development platform as well. Each of these platforms aims to achieve similar goals, although their IDE’s are quite different. Both allow you to connect to major services very easily by just filling out some pertinent information. These services include, but are not limited to: Google, Office 365, and other REST API endpoints.
Since these low-code solutions offer visual representations for building the user interface, not any one coding language is required to build a basic application. Most low-code solutions have you build your data model before diving into user interface controls. Building models and understanding data types are instrumental for developers to understand more layers of the application development stack. Your models mirror what would traditionally be your database tables, and the schema overall would correspond to the database. A less-experienced developer would greatly benefit from understanding the model, especially if he/she has not had to dive into database development and/or object-oriented programming.
Salesforce’s platform allows you to build custom components using Java, allowing you to expand your skill set to include more complicated development experience. The ability to customize your low-code application is very common for all platform offerings but differ in how you can achieve your goal. You can create REST endpoints by creating custom C# or Java web API applications. You could use APEX to write custom Java code within Salesforce.
There are many ways to achieve a goal by using custom code that doesn’t come out of the box with these platforms. To develop low-code solutions, no up-front development experience is necessary. The only prerequisite is to understand the platform you are going to be building your application within. A general understanding of its limitations and expandability is very helpful in choosing the correct solution as well.
Low-code platform solutions allow a company to build an application in a cost-effective way while substantially cutting down on the turnaround time from start to finish.
Development Assistance for your Modernization Initiative
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