With the introduction of the graphical user interface (GUI) using a computer became modelled on gestures that people use in the real world. The concept of a desktop was introduced on which documents and applications (and other virtual objects) are represented with icons and a pointing device (mouse) is used to perform various actions on them. Because of the power and simplicity of the GUI concept it has become almost universally used as the interface for a wide variety of electronic devices.
The term “drag and drop application builder” refers to a gesture performed using the mouse in which a virtual object is ‘grabbed’ and moved to a different location on the desktop or placed over another virtual object. In the latter case, placing one virtual object (such as a document) over another (an application) results in a specific action being performed (in this example, the document is opened by the application). The drag and drop method can be used to create an almost limitless array of associations between two abstract objects represented by icons.
The power of the GUI’s drag and drop concept has been applied to software development in what is termed as a Low-code Development Platform (LCDP). In this environment, application software is created using the GUI concept instead of by hand-coding each element of the software. A drag and drop application builder allows the user to create applications through a visual interface where different application elements are combined using model-driven logic to define the relationships between them.
Some of these LCDPs produce entirely functional applications without the need to write any additional application-specific programming code to make them function while others require some hand-coding to make them function correctly.
Business processes have become widely automated using software while the penetration of smartphone devices into people’s daily lives has made almost everyone familiar with the GUI concept and the power of applications to perform useful functions. The goal of LCDPs is to allow non-programmers to contribute ideas for applications and implement them in a simple and robust manner without first having to master a programming language. It is another step in the goal of abstracting the user level from the hardware or implementation level to simplify the use and creation of application software. Some research firms have estimated that the market for LCDP driven software will reach over $15b in the next year or two and could become the future of specific types of application development.