The “No Code” Delusion

Obviously the trick is in the difference between exact and fuzzy specifications. As a software engineer I could say my main job is to translate approximate specifications of business needs into a list of specific instructions on how to solve them i.e. code that can run on a computer. We'll probably have better tools and more efficient abstractions to do so but we'll still have to write some code.

I guess the "no code" topic could better be treated as "years of experience vs. hours of training". During my first job I once had to use a graphical programming tool to design and run computer simulations of a power plant: just connect some predefined building blocks, input some simulation parameters in each block and voilà! Except that the simulations quickly started to require hundreds of said building blocks, so that my coworkers spent their days clicking around only to start over when we needed to use different simulation parameters. Got trained a few hours on how to use the graphical tool but couldn't accept I now had to click and input numbers all day long... Somehow found that an old user manual actually existed and discovered that I could instead write plain text files to specify the computer simulations. It used a very verbose ad-hoc language so I wrote a Python script to generate the files I needed and when the requirements changed I could redefine the simulation in minutes instead of days. Later got fired for being some sort of troublemaker but I now work as a fullstack dev in Python and Javascript.

No-code is used mostly by non-technical founders who do seem quite motivated (enough to do it themselves).

Engineers are more likely to build it themselves (realistically, over-engineer).

I generally agree with you, but I also suspect there’s a lot of room to improve the tools and it’s not always obvious when something is a paradigm shift in productivity or a dead end that will only work in tightly constrained use cases.

If anyone discounts nocode/lowcode they are missing the forest for the trees.

NoCode always existed, the term is getting popular now. Wordpress is a nocode website builder.

When you hit a 3rd party API, you are reducing a part of the problem to nocode. Would you care if the API was written in C/Java/Python or was a Zapier interface?

Can nocode/lowcode reduce bottlenecks or speed up developer of critical but not urgent things/components definitely.

Read carefully and you will notice:

- they don't have to Mirandize you even if arrested or detained. If they don't, your answers and evidence based on them will probably be inadmissible, if your lawyer is not an incompetent boob.

- they don't have to Mirandize you at all with no penalty unless you are detained or arrested. If you are "free to go", for example if asked a question at a traffic stop, Miranda is irrelevant. What you say will always be used against you.

- always, in all circumstances, assume that your statements WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU.

- At a traffic stop, you say "here is my license and registration" and "please, thank you, have a nice day". NOTHING else, which is quite a bit harder to do than it sounds.

When in an adversarial position with the police, it's best to remember that it is literally not their job to be helping you. It's not their job to be "fair" or to be your ally. They are ALLOWED TO LIE to your face, and might do so.

But the rest of the time, which is most of it, they are your ally. You will know which time is which - act accordingly. In all cases, respect is wise, is warranted, and is well deserved. Remember the number of our friends in blue who have died because of some bad person. And note that until they understand you, they may quite reasonably assume you are one. Don't be an A-hole and prove it to them. Don't lie, it would be obvious, suspicious, and insulting. Just say nothing or shrug. Don't be a dick and try to argue - save that for the courtroom which is when it is appropriate.

But you still don't ever have to say things like "Gee I thought I was only doing 80" or "I didn't see that guy, he musta came outa nowhere"...