[sverhagen]

I experimented with Appsmith (and Budibase, and to a lesser extent a few others) for about a week, and it was just a very painful experience. The simple examples are simple, but the curve goes up quickly, for example if you want to hook up a few APIs, instead of a database. As an experienced developer (but not normally in React), just building something off of a React starter app, with off the shelf components is just so much quicker than using tools in the Low or No Code category. I spent my next few days building the tool I wanted in React, and it was a breeze. Less experienced developers (not-developers) may not have that choice, but it doesn't mean that these tools are going to be any better for them than they were for me. I admire the attempt, and certainly the dedication that's being put into these Low or No Code projects, but I think they're still far off.

[arey_abhishek]

I appreciate your feedback and review. There's a lot of work to be done to improve Appsmith. It's still early days for this space.

Now, you mentioned that you found it painful to hook up APIs. Was it when connecting to multiple APIs or integrating the API response with UI components? Was it just using the online editor instead of a code editor? I'd love to learn more about the specific challenges you faced.

On the other hand, you mentioned that building something in React was a breeze for you. What aspects of React made it easier for you compared to using Low/No Code tools?

[sverhagen]

Well, SQL, and connecting it to a UI, lends itself to a declarative approach, and I guess that's just simpler to catch in a simple form builder etc. Heck, MS Access did it twenty years ago (and so did many others). But for other things one ends up trying to capture imperative code (which is just very flexible and expressive) in a simple editor. From what I remember from the experience, you end up adding pockets of complexity in different finicky controls, that then have to all with together, while the actual code equivalent would just be a few lines of code and done. I don't think I'm speaking to it very eloquently, but I was just shocked, at the time, how little progress was made, as an industry, relative to (I'm gonna say it again) MS Access. This was a year or so ago, I'm sure you're making progress!