Last month Oracle built a drug therapy report app as a rapid response to COVID-19. They had a request from the US government to create an app for gathering large scale data from patients and doctors about which drugs worked. They committed to this on 18 March and delivered a fully functional, multi-featured app on 30 March on the Oracle cloud, all done under the personal supervision of Larry Ellison.
The app could be built so fast due a technology called Oracle APEX, a low code application development framework. APEX requires very little coding and comes free with the Oracle database.
You can read about many such examples about the COVID response using APEX here: https://apex.world/ords/f?p=100:COVID19::::COVID19
Collecting data about the disease, its treatments or simply ways to avoid transmission of the disease: CIOs and IT leaders needed to find quick fixes using apps, tools, and cloud computing. Usual software development methods and cycles would be too late to make a difference. So low code approaches are ideal.
What is a low code platform?
Low code apps is a technology that has become a savior in the tech response to COVID-19, especially in Healthcare apps. Given the rapid pace and scale of the disease, the technology response to it needed to be rapid too.
Low-code development makes it easier to build applications by avoiding as much of the manual, hand written code as possible. Such platforms have a visual IDE that allows anybody to drag and drop application components, connect them and create a mobile or web app. Such developers are called citizen coders. People can become developers and create apps and features to solve business problems without learning vast web technologies.
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So low code platforms have become saviors of sorts today to develop critical applications, because they help to create new processes and features within a limited time and can handle a database of any size, besides having mobile and cross platform support. They get more things done with less time and money. They have a cloud-based architecture and support many languages.
About APEX
APEX is offered as a PaaS. It has a web-based, low code front end, that developers can use on a self service basis, and runs inside an Oracle database, where data is processed by the APEX engine. Since Oracle APEX takes care of all facets of application development: Data, User Interface, Security, Accessibility Monitoring and Globalization, projects are done in a short span of time. It is super agile, ideal for cases when something was due yesterday.
Reference: https://www.oracle.com/assets/apex-oracle-db-ecosystem-4491616.pdf
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure also supports Oracle Apex – Oracle Cloud Platform.
Some amazing examples of APEX capabilities are found here:
Guyanese Chemist Goes From Plant Manager To Tech Entrepreneur
UAE Ministry of Health & Prevention built interactive attendance application
Some of the other low code platforms available are:
- Outcast
- Oracle Apex
- Appian
- Pega
- Quick Base
- Kiss Flow
Here we have listed out in detail APEX features and benefits.
https://www.oracle.com/assets/apex-oracle-db-ecosystem-4491616.pdf
Developer Experience
- Intuitive Developer Experience
- Easy page design
- World Class UI
- Immediate Results
Accelerate Development Oracle APEX Low Code platform
- Powerful Components
- Responsive Design
- Intelligent Wizard
Improved Consistency
- Shared Components
- Business Logic
- Consistent User Experience
Minimize Defects
- Easy Conditions
- Built in Advisor
- Built in Security
- Efficient SQL
Reduce Cost
- Beautiful Apps
- Consistent Development
- Evolving-Constantly
- Easy to pick up
Lower Maintenance
- Structured Development
- Low to No Code
- Consolidation
Deployment Simplified
- Single File App
- Effortless Deployment
- Continuously Integrated
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