Playing around with #NodeRed, I get a pleasant sense of how it cuts all the bullshit from programming and makes gluing stuff together somewhat enjoyable.
Of course, it's just #nodejs with flowchart #UI, and like all #lowcode tech, has its limits. You can do all those things better with any programming language.
But I wonder: so how come that actually doing the same in a proper programming language involves *so* *much* extra work?
There is something wrong with our tooling, and I can't put a finger on it.
I mean, flowchart in image 1 produces a working example of "the most useless machine in the world" (image 2). A webpage with a switch that turns itself back off after a delay.
Now were I to try and write it from scratch in any of the programming languages I normally use, I'd waste a day on it - most of it on setting up the project, build system, dependencies, but also assembling the UI, etc.
Of course, normal programming grants me much more freedom, but it seems to come with big costs for simple tasks.
@madnificent So is my current experience with other graphical-based programming constructs (e.g. Blueprints in Unreal Engine, or shader flowcharts - everyone seems to want to build shaders out of flowcharts these days).
But I'm watching the low-code space with interest. Not because I don't know how to code - I do, I just don't want to anymore.
Surely there must be some middle ground between drawing non-composable boxes and arrows with a mouse, and heaping kloc of boilerplate to do most basic things...
@temporal I found it seriously lacking in reuse (may not have discovered how to build reusable blocks) and in scope (the amount of base constructs is limited and when you have many the icons stop making sense).
For hyper-targeted programming, it is a nice visual.
My experience is only use in some automation around the house. Other low code platforms seem to be similar in that regard.