Low-code for the professional developer

Surveys have shown that professional app developers are skeptical of traditional low-code platforms. Developers fear that low-code platforms will strip them of control, force them to use unfamiliar proprietary tools, and tie them to aging architectures and hybrid mobile containers. Progress takes a different approach to low-code that aims to avoid these pitfalls.

While Progress caters to professional developers, we also support every key business application team member including designers, devops, and data scientists. We also have the enterprise architect in mind, which drives our hosted, cloud-native serverless architecture. While there are many differences between our approach and traditional low-code solutions, let’s look at the key distinctions that appeal to professional developers.

Standard and open technology

While traditional low-code vendors may support a standard language, that doesn’t mean their application development cycle itself is standard. It also doesn’t mean that it is easy to edit or sometimes even access the code that is generated by these platforms.

With Kinvey, everything is standards-based and completely open. Kinvey takes a full-stack JavaScript approach that leverages open-source NativeScript for iOS and Android and Kendo UI for web development. This front-end code is cleanly decoupled from the Node.js back-end, which is deployed as a combination of serverless functions and microservices. Developers are free to use popular frameworks like Angular or Vue along with their IDE of choice.

While Kinvey Studio visually scaffolds the application, the generated code is completely accessible and clearly labeled where custom code can be placed. This allows other tools such as Visual Studio Code to be used while still maintaining the Kinvey Studio workflow with roundtrip code support between any IDE and Kinvey Studio. Developers are free to use other tools as well, including their preferred CI/CD tools, version control systems, etc.