低代码发展史及现状

“做开发，真的一定需要写代码吗？这次真的轮到程序员革自己的命了！”业内很多人都这样感叹。2019年见证了低代码/零代码市场的首次爆发，种种迹象似乎在提醒着我们，一个新的“风口”正在形成。

“Do developers really need to write code for development?” is a question that has been asked quite a lot. Since the explosion of the market for low-code / zero-code development in 2019, there seems to be a significant movement in IT in recent years.

低代码这一概念并非近年来首次出现。其实，在上世纪八十年代，就有美国公司和实验室开始研究程序可视化编程这个领域，做出了4GL“第四代编程语言”，后来衍生成VPL（Visual Programming Language可视化编程语言）。2010年麻省理工又将这一概念应用于儿童编程领域，产出了风靡全球的Scratch。直到2014年，研究机构Forrester Research正式提出了“低代码/零代码”的概念，它的完整定义是“利用很少或几乎不需要写代码就可以快速开发应用，并可以快速配置和部署的一种技术和工具” 。Gartner随后又提出了aPaaS和iPaaS的概念，其中aPaaS概念和低代码/零代码非常吻合。

Although low-code has recently been a game changer in software development landscape, the concept emerges already before 1980s. At that time, some of American companies and laboratories began to study the field of visual programming, and developed fourth-generation programming language (4GL), which later derived into Visual Programming Language (VPL). In 2003, MIT applied this concept and develop the first desktop-only version of Scratch, which is targeted primarily at children. The term “Low code” was coined in 2014 by Forrester Research and Low-code platforms are defined as "platforms that enable rapid delivery of business applications with a minimum of hand-coding and minimal upfront investment in setup, training, and deployment." Gartner then proposed the concepts of aPaaS and iPaaS, in which the concept of aPaaS is very consistent with the concept of low code / zero code.

随着这一概念的不断推广，全球市场上都涌现出了很多低代码开发平台(LCDP，Low-Code Development Platform) 。国外包括OutSystems、Mendix、Kony、Salesforce、App Maker（Google）、PowerApps（Microsoft）等，国内主要包括氘云、iVX、轻流、搭搭云、AppSheet、明道云、牛刀、APICloud等。

With the continuous promotion of this concept, many low-code development platforms (LCDP) have emerged in the global market, including OutSystems, Mendix, iVX, PowerApps and Appian.

 

 

 

  

 

2018年以后，海外市场在该赛道的投融资也比较活跃。OutSystems宣布融资3.6亿美金，成为该领域的独角兽；几乎同时，荷兰公司Mendix以7亿美元被西门子收购。这样的业绩迅速引起了全球市场的广泛关注，一方面，专注于低代码/零代码技术的研发公司与日俱增，一方面，越来越多的企业开始尝试以低代码/零代码技术重构数字化业务。

The investment and financing activities among the low code developments have become rather vigorous since 2018. Outsystems announced it has raised $360 million in investment capital from KKR and Goldman Sachs. Mendix was acquired by Siemens almost simultaneously for approximately $700 million. Such news has attracted widespread market attention. On the one hand, the number of companies focused on R&D in low-code / zero code technologies has been growing dramatically. On the other hand, enterprises are trying to reconstruct their digital business with low code / zero code technologies.

 

 

那么随着市场的发展，下一步将会呈现怎样的形态？在为数众多、品类各异的平台中，是否有谁会首先突围，成为引领技术变革的先驱者？下一篇文章将对现有的几家比较代表性的平台进行概览，以此窥视未来市场的可能走向。邀请大家持续关注～

So what is the future of low-code market? Who will be the first to make a breakthrough and become the pioneer of the industry? The next article will give an overview of several representative platforms in existing markets, so as to analyze and predict the possible market trends in the future.