Makerpad: Low Code Tools with Ben Tossell

Low code tools can be used to build an increasing number of applications. Knowledge workers within a large corporation can use low code tools to augment their usage of spreadsheets. Entrepreneurs can use low code tools to start businesses even without knowing how to code. Modern low code tools have benefited from steady improvements in cloud infrastructure, front-end frameworks like ReactJS, and browser technology such as the V8 JavaScript engine. These building blocks led to the popular low code products such as Webflow, Bubble, Retool, and Airtable. The low code products are supported by a broad selection of domain-specific APIs such as Stripe, Twilio, and Zapier. Ben Tossell runs Makerpad, a site devoted to low-code and no-code applications. Makerpad describes how to use these tools to design sophisticated applications that don’t require you to write code. But they do require a different kind of software engineering. To create applications intelligently with low-code tools, you need to know how the tools fit together, and you need to be willing to persist through a process of iteration and debugging that is similar to traditional software engineering. Ben joins the show to talk about his experience building low-code tools, the use cases for these tools, and his predictions for how they will impact the future of software.