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Tag: RAD

  • The Rise of Low-Code/No-Code in DevOps

    The Rise of Low-Code/No-Code in DevOps

    The ever-evolving landscape of technology has ushered in a paradigm shift in software development and deployment. One of the prominent trends gaining momentum is the integration of low-code/no-code platforms within the DevOps ecosystem. This article explores how these platforms are revolutionizing the way applications are developed, deployed and managed, fostering collaboration between developers and operations teams.

    1. Democratizing Development:

    Low-code/no-code platforms empower individuals with limited coding experience to actively participate in the application development process. This democratization of development accelerates the delivery of software by allowing business analysts, designers and other non-developers—sometimes referred to as citizen developers—to contribute directly to the creation of applications.

    2. Accelerating Time-to-Market:

    The traditional software development life cycle often involves lengthy coding processes, leading to delayed releases. Low-code/no-code platforms enable rapid prototyping and development through visual interfaces, significantly reducing the time required to bring applications from concept to production. This acceleration aligns with the principles of DevOps, promoting continuous delivery and faster time-to-market.

    3. Enhancing Collaboration:

    DevOps is all about breaking down silos and fostering collaboration between development and operations teams. Low-code/no-code platforms bridge the gap between these traditionally distinct roles by providing a common ground where both technical and non-technical stakeholders can collaborate seamlessly. This collaborative environment promotes better communication, understanding, and alignment of objectives.

    4. Flexibility in Deployment:

    Low-code/no-code solutions are designed to be platform-agnostic, allowing for the deployment of applications across various environments, including on-premises and cloud. This flexibility aligns with the DevOps principle of infrastructure-as-code (IaC), enabling teams to deploy and manage applications consistently across diverse infrastructures.

    5. Reducing Dependency on Specialized Skills:

    In a DevOps environment, reducing bottlenecks and dependencies on specific individuals or roles is crucial. Low-code/no-code platforms enable teams to be more self-sufficient, reducing the reliance on specialized coding skills or DevOps Training. This, in turn, contributes to a more resilient and adaptable DevOps culture.

    6. Challenges and Considerations:

    While the adoption of low-code/no-code in DevOps brings numerous benefits, it also introduces challenges. This section discusses considerations such as security, scalability and the potential need for customization beyond the platform’s capabilities.

    7. Real-World Use Cases:

    Explore real-world examples of organizations successfully incorporating low-code/no-code in their DevOps workflows. Highlight the positive outcomes, lessons learned, and the impact on their overall software development life cycle.

    Conclusion:

    The rise of low-code/no-code platforms in DevOps is reshaping the way software is developed and deployed. By fostering collaboration, accelerating development cycles, and reducing dependencies on specialized skills, these platforms align seamlessly with the principles of DevOps. As organizations continue to embrace this trend, the synergy between low-code/no-code and DevOps is set to redefine the future of application delivery.

  • Best of 2021 – Transform Legacy Java Apps to Microservices

    Best of 2021 – Transform Legacy Java Apps to Microservices

    As we close out 2021, we at staging-devopsy.kinsta.cloud wanted to highlight the most popular articles of the year. Following is the sixteenth in our series of the Best of 2021.

    Velocity is one of the major tenets of DevOps, and anything that maintains or improves velocity benefits the overall process. Yet, there are still many speed bumps in the DevOps process that threaten to derail progress and slow DevOps processes to a crawl. One of the biggest speed bumps arises when transforming legacy monolithic applications into something more cloud-friendly—namely, microservices.

    Microservices are clearly the future of applications developed for the cloud; research giant IDC predicts that 90% of all new apps deployed by 2022 will feature microservices architectures. IDC also notes the primary benefits of microservices are the improvements to developers’ ability to design, debug, update and leverage third-party code. Although DevOps tends to be about developing internal code, the benefits offered by a microservices architecture remain much the same.

    Microservices: Getting There

    Moving toward a microservices architecture can be straightforward or complex, depending on the path an organization is taking and where they begin. For example, if the goal is to transform legacy applications into microservices, the process can be complex and tedious. Transformation of legacy applications often means manually disassembling legacy code and breaking it up into standalone code elements that will run as microservices. That greatly complicates things for the DevOps pipeline, where fast iteration of existing code is the norm, not the exception.

    However, there are tools coming to market that can ease the process. One such tool is vFunction, which recently came out of stealth with the mission to transform monolithic Java apps into microservices. 

    microservices

    vFunction has an interesting approach to that process. The vFunction platform is deployed locally, where the vFunction Java virtual machine (JVM) agent examines legacy applications and gathers data which is then collected on the vFunction server. From there, software architects can further investigate the collected information about the legacy applications, and start designing a microservices architecture to modernize the codebase. “Once developers are satisfied with the design, vFunction generates a service specification file, which contains all the information required to create the microservice,” said vFunction CEO and co-founder Moti Rafalin. “That file is used by our automation engine, which scans the original code and copies the relevant artifacts to create the new service.”

    Rafalin said that vFunction leverages supervised learning techniques, graph theory and clustering algorithms to identify dead code and code anomalies that could prevent a clean breakdown, or “decomposition,” of the legacy application. Ultimately, vFunction has the potential to automate many of the manual steps that DevOps engineers used to perform to break monolithic applications into microservices. According to Rafalin, vFunction makes the process as much as 15 times faster and can achieve somewhere between 80% to 95% automation. Currently, vFunction is focused solely on Java, which it deems the biggest opportunity today. However, the company has plans to support applications written in other languages in the future.

    Beyond newcomer vFunction, there are other ways to deal with moving legacy Java applications into the cloud. One example is Anthos, which is a managed application platform that extends Google Cloud services into DevOps environments. Another is IBM’s Mono2Micro, which is an AI-based, semi-automated toolset to assist with refactoring monolithic Java applications. 

    For those looking to build microservices-based applications from scratch, numerous tools exist. Most interesting are the development environments that use rapid application development (RAD) techniques and leverage low-code models. There are dozens of RAD platforms available; prime examples being WaveMaker , OutSystems and AgilePoint.

    In most cases, those moving legacy applications to a microservices model will usually select numerous tools, based on the particular use case. For some, it may be easier to rewrite smaller legacy applications; for others, refactoring may be the only way to capture the intellectual property in legacy applications. Either way, carefully selecting the appropriate tools goes a long way towards maintaining velocity in the DevOps realm. Maintaining that velocity proves critical for building cloud-friendly applications on budget and on time. 

    “Unless one modernizes those monolithic applications to be cloud-native, they end up requiring very large machines and often end up paying more to the cloud providers,” Rafalin said. “Organizations now understand that, if they want the true benefits of the cloud, they need to modernize these apps. And this starts with adopting an architecture that includes microservices, APIs, and modern design principles.”

    The lesson is to choose wisely, and select toolsets that support scale as well as growth, and that can support the requirements of microservices.

  • How Low-Code and No-Code Solutions Compare to RAD

    How Low-Code and No-Code Solutions Compare to RAD

    Low-code and no-code solutions help line-of-business workers to create applications more quickly and advance business needs. But how do low-code solutions compare to the rapid application development (RAD) tools of yesterday for non-developers? Let’s take a look at the drawbacks and advantages of the low-code solutions of today, who should use these solutions and which application types are best-suited for low-code/no-code.

    RAD vs. Low-Code/No-Code

    First off, let’s discuss some of the key differences between RAD and low-code/no-code solutions. RAD solutions are development tools that combine an integrated development environment (IDE) with some code generation features, primarily on the UI side.

    No-code/low-code, on the other hand, refers to platforms on which codeless design time produces fully deployed applications, whether in the cloud or on-premises. This includes the entire application technology stack—back end, middle tier and UI. While it might not be accurate to say all low-code solutions are RAD solutions, it would be accurate to say low-code is an offshoot of RAD, though a far cry from the RAD solutions of the early ’90s.

    Low-Code and No-Code Advantages 

    Modern low-code and no-code platforms are advantageous to non-professional developers because of their shorter learning curves. These solutions cover the entire application stack and development, testing and deployment process. There is also no need to install multiple components to create a fully functional development environment, as most of the new tools run in a browser and deploy in the cloud.

    Low-Code and No-Code Drawbacks 

    The drawbacks of low-code/no-code platforms are similar to those experienced with RAD. You still need to deal with the code, since in many cases the developer has no control or knowledge of what files were generated or modified as a result of visual tool-related activities. This affects source control approaches and integrations of the code with third-party components. Furthermore, the quality of generated code can be questionable and proprietary in some implementations. This can lead to issues with code integrity across implementations if care is not taken.

    One of the key factors of measuring the quality of the generated code is it should use the most popular and widely available (open source) frameworks instead of proprietary frameworks, so further maintenance of the code is straightforward and does not require an additional learning curve. The quality and complexity of the generated code also should be measured using traditional tools.

    When to Use Low-Code/No-Code 

    Which applications work well with low-code/no-code development? Because low-code and no-code allow developers to concentrate on the business logic of building blocks, this strategy is well-suited for business-type applications. Low-code building blocks and components can be created by more technical people also by injecting some code into standard visual components, ending up with no-code required building blocks for businesspeople to construct applications. This approach also fits well into the “bimodal IT” approach popularized by Gartner.

    Low-code/no-code and RAD were both built with the same end goal in mind: to speed development and deliver applications more quickly and more consistently. However, low-code solutions offer a more visual way of building apps more well-suited for less experienced developers. It also can empower team members who otherwise would not be able to do so to create applications more easily. Modern low-code solutions also give the developer a great deal of flexibility because typically you can incorporate both the low-code building blocks with custom code, meaning the application can be customized.

    Whether you’re new to low-code or no-code or just getting started, this solution is a great choice to help accelerate part of (or even your entire) development pipeline. If you’ve tried RAD in the past, give no-code/low-code a try and see if it’s right for you.

    — Dmitry Binunsky

  • WaveMaker Launches Studio WorkSpace Sync Plugin

    Mountain View, CA – September 24, 2018 – WaveMaker, Inc., a leading low-code Rapid Application Development (RAD) platform, announced the launch of its Studio WorkSpace Sync Plugin. The new capability further streamlines the app coding process for developers, allowing them to easily synchronize WaveMaker’s open-standards platform with various integrated development environments (IDEs) on their personal devices.

    Rather than having to export and re-import projects between platforms, the Studio WorkSpace Sync Plugin provides a direct communication channel where changes can be instantly pushed between WaveMaker and an IDE. This also eliminates the need to copy and paste code, a time-intensive, tedious, and error-inducing method that can slow down the DevOps process.

    After a one-time setup configuration, developers can leverage the Studio WorkSpace Sync Plugin in three main ways:

    1. Pull the latest project changes from WaveMaker – This command can be used to ensure that the latest changes made to a project on the WaveMaker platform are applied to IDE code. This includes both committed and uncommitted changes to the project. 
    2. Push IDE changes to WaveMaker – All IDE changes are instantly pushed to the WaveMaker platform.
    3. Synchronize a project – This command works in two steps: first, the latest changes made to the project on the WaveMaker platform are applied to IDE code. After both the IDE and WaveMaker versions of the project are in the same state, the Studio WorkSpace Sync Plugin pushes any IDE changes back to WaveMaker.

    The Studio WorkSpace Sync Plugin is the latest component of WaveMaker’s ongoing commitment to providing developers the tools they need to efficiently develop and deploy applications while leveraging the benefits of granular customization capabilities and third-party platform integration. For more information, please visit https://www.wavemaker.com/.

  • WaveMaker Extends Lead in Enterprise Rapid Application Development with Out-of-the-Box RAD-based App Security

    Expanded Security Functionality Lets Developers Focus on Developing Great Apps, With Assurance of Protection Against Network Breaches

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – July 14, 2016 – WaveMaker, Inc., a leading enterprise Rapid Application Development Platform software company, today announced two major enhancements to its enterprise-class Rapid App Development platform. Built with a strong foundation in application security, the WaveMaker platform now supports Single-Sign On for WaveMaker-built and deployed applications using Central Authentication Server (CAS), which permits users to access multiple applications by providing credentials such as UserID and password only once. WaveMaker also announced today that it meets the standards addressing the top ten list of web application vulnerabilities published by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP).

    Enterprises are increasingly challenged by the need to deliver new web applications rapidly while ensuring compliance with enterprise IT security teams. In response, WaveMaker built application security natively into the initial release of its RAD platform, and subsequently strengthened its security with enterprise-class, RAD-based application security. And now, WaveMaker’s announcement of CAS-based Single Sign-On furthers the company’s commitment to provide the highest level of application security while simplifying application access for users.

    For its part in pinpointing major network vulnerabilities, OWASP has become a critical, yet often overlooked, asset to application developers. The OWASP Top 10 represents a broad consensus of the most critical web application security flaws – gaps in security that are often easy for malicious actors to detect and exploit. By certifying compliance with the OWASP Top 10 list, WaveMaker assures developers that the applications they create with WaveMaker will comply with the directives of OWASP.

    “In the heat of the battle to expedite new apps to market, ‘rapid’ has become the mantra of many developers, both professional and non-professional,” said Didier Tournier, Product Marketing Manager, Gemalto. “But developers can’t afford the risk of sacrificing security for speed. From the beginning, WaveMaker’s RAD platform has encompassed security, not as a bolt-on, but as part of an integrated whole. We’re confident that our developers using WaveMaker can focus on creating great apps, and won’t have to obsess over the latest security risks.”

    Unlike other vendors of RAD platforms, WaveMaker’s focus on security extends beyond the application and to the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow multiple applications to link and interoperate. WaveMaker is the only RAD platform that allows developers to build native microservices-based applications, and today’s release introduces token-based authentication for APIs, allowing API keys to be generated rapidly for consumption by other applications.

    “Security was once an afterthought in application design, but those days are long past,” said Vijay Pullur, CEO of WaveMaker.   “Still, vestiges of those days remain, as the primary objective of application design, in the eyes of most developers, is to ensure that the application performs continuously and under heavy demand. But security cannot be exempted from that objective. That’s why WaveMaker believes that security must be a cornerstone of good application design, and a major component in ensuring software quality before an app goes live.”

    For more information on RAD application development or professional services from WaveMaker, visit http://www.wavemaker.com/get-started

    About WaveMaker

    WaveMaker’s software platform revolutionizes how enterprises build, deliver and manage modern custom applications, improving business agility and fostering innovation. WaveMaker leverages the latest trends and technologies in Rapid App Development (RAD) such as multi-device auto-responsive interfaces and componentized app assembly, Docker for app-optimized container deployment on private infrastructures, and APIs and Microservices Architecture (MSA) for scalable integration. WaveMaker, Inc., a Pramati Technologies company, is headquartered in Mountain View, CA with offices in Hyderabad, India. For more information, visit www.wavemaker.com, or like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or connect with us on LinkedIn.

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    Editorial Contact

    Michael Porter

    10Fold

    wavemaker@10Fold.com

    415-800-5373