No-code programming development has seen a steady rise in the last couple of years. With visual programming being a strong tool in workforce enablement and customer base expansion, it only makes sense why Amazon Web Services (AWS) wants their own slice of the cake.
After dropping several hints in recent months, AWS finally launched the beta version of Amazon Honeycode, the company’s spanking new rendition of a no-code product. For the longest time, customers of the no-code market segment have turned to brands like bubble.io and adalo.com for quick and engaging app development projects. But with Beta Honeycode now around, it’s interesting to see what tricks AWS has up their sleeves.
A quick Amazon Honeycode rundown
Like its several predecessors, Honeycode optimizes a drag-and-drop interface backed up by a generous Amazon database. On the surface, it may seem like Honeycode benefits startups the most since developers can build free apps for only twenty users. That means every succeeding user an application gets will have to be paid for. Additionally, fees for the storage Honeycode’s subscribers consume will also be accounted for.
That factored in, those who lead small businesses may want to jump at the chance. After all, apps aren’t exclusive to commercial releases. Those who manage small teams and intimate organizations can design apps that help streamline communication efforts and marketing initiatives for the people they work with.
Still, the no-code movement continues to be a breakthrough for professionals of all industries and scales. Similar to the crowd-favorite Bubble, Amazon Honeycode empowers almost anyone and everyone to build dynamic custom mobile and web applications without having to turn to code at all. Furthermore, the AWS platform also provides its subscribers with a selection of templates they can utilize for customer trackers, to-do list applications, inventory management reports, schedules, and surveys.
What features to expect from Amazon Honeycode
One notorious practice that hasn’t entirely evaded modern businesses and enterprises is having to deal with long lists of spreadsheets and an exhaustive exchange of emails with the intent to compile figures and data. All that considered, it’s understandable why Honeycode is turning to a spreadsheet-inspired interface as its core data dashboard—which in retrospect, makes a lot of sense bearing in mind how accustomed potential customers would be with this paradigm.
In that respect, users may approach their tech projects as they would with spreadsheets. This is because one will also have to acquaint themselves with Honeycode’s formulae to successfully manipulate data, making it the closest no-code product to actual traditional programming. Moreover, builders—the service’s community slang for their users—can enjoy databases designed to scale a whopping 100,000 rows for every workbook, allowing them to focus on creating applications without having to fret over the infrastructure supporting it.
Amazon Honeycode solidifies that no-code is the future
Why Honeycode was built isn’t any more different from why bubble.io came into existence. No-code app development remains to be one of the biggest advancements we’ve seen in software programming.
Like Airtable, AppGyver, and Bubble, Honeycode aims to authorize and encourage leaders from all kinds of businesses to explore app development for and by themselves. The ability to build an app without having to learn or write code is utterly majestic in that anyone who identifies a problem can directly refer to realizing an app to address concerns and issues. Instead of piecing together elements to come up with computing results, all a “builder” has to do now is to create logic through the platform’s spreadsheet-looking UI.
Nonetheless, we can’t turn a blind eye to the power and reach traditional coding extends. Of course, conventional computer programming will always be superior considering how these no-code platforms are also reliant on pre-built code. Despite that reality, Honeycode, like its contemporaries, can always resort to API should a builder need application features and functions that the platform won’t be able to provide. As a result, builders can still create complex and elaborate apps through AWS’ no-code product.
What to expect from Honeycode in the future
At present, Honeycode’s current technology suggests that builders won’t be able to bring in any external data. Nevertheless, this may well be within Amazon’s roadmap. They are, elementally, still at their Beta phase. This move also makes a lot of sense since various integration types may be a tad complicated for a lot of first-time citizen developers, and quite obviously, Honeycode’s goal is to try to simplify every single process for now.
Is Amazon Honeycode for me?
We all have an increasing need to manage workflows, track data efficiently, navigate complex enterprise functions, schedule recurring events, and organize employee meetings and celebrations. For as long as we’re alive and do business with each other, there will constantly be a need to create work practices that encourage productivity, harmony, and orderliness—and evidently, business applications solve a huge chunk of menial duties and assignments.
If you’re well-versed with how spreadsheets function, you may be part of Honeycode’s prime target market. On the other hand, if you’re more comfortable looking at blocks and squares when designing applications, your best bet could be bubble.io, if not AppGyver.
Whatever your case and interest, Honeycode is a promising addition to the no-code market, and we can only expect even bigger things from the Amazon cloud-computing machine.
