One of the most fundamental tasks when building an application is breaking it down into its core parts, or components. Websites are constructed from smaller building blocks. Just how small? Well, that’s up to you, the developer.

In the example below, we can spot some obvious elements: a header, a search box, perhaps a sidebar for navigation, and a main content area. Applications emerge from many smaller parts coming together.

Components allow us to isolate responsibility and manage complexity for specific parts of an application. In both traditional and low-code development, they play a vital role in creating maintainable, reusable, and testable products.

In this article, you’ll learn what a component is. Then we’ll build a custom text field component inside a Canvas app.

Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes a basic understanding of Microsoft Power Apps. While not required to understand the article, to actively follow along, you’ll need access to a Power Platform environment with the App Maker security role.

Table of Contents

• The Concept of a Component

• How to Build Your Own Component

• Wrapping Up

The Concept of a Component

The idea of components isn’t new – and it’s not exclusive to software.

Let’s think about a car for a moment. A car is made up of many smaller parts: wheels, an engine, seats, a steering wheel, and so on. But it’s the concept of the car – and specifically its ability to transport us – that provides value. That concept emerges from the way the individual parts work together.

Now imagine you get a flat tire. Not a good day. But thanks to how cars are designed, you don’t need a whole new car – maybe not even a new tire. You fix the issue and you’re back on the road within a few hours. Breaking things into smaller parts helps make the whole system more resilient. Applying this same principle to application development is a smart, future-proof approach.

Two Broad Types of Components

Within an application, components can vary in complexity and responsibility. Some are simple, like a text label. Others are more complex, like a pop-up dialog. Regardless of their complexity (again, your design choice), components typically fall into one of two categories:

• Presentational ("Dumb") Components

• Container ("Smart") Components

The difference comes down to purpose. A container component may interact with external sources and usually mutates state. A presentational component, on the other hand, is generally only responsible for how things look and light communication with the application.

Container components are often more complex and harder to test. Presentational components are typically simpler and more predictable.

This isn’t to say you should avoid container components. That’s not realistic. At some point, your app will need to talk to the outside world.

Aside: Pure Functions

The concept of pure functions is useful here.

A function is considered pure if it always returns the same output for the same input and doesn’t interact with any external state.

// Example 1 (pure)
function add(x, y) {
  return x + y;
}

console.log(add(2, 3)); // Always 5

// Example 2 (not pure)
function subtract(x) {
  const y = Math.floor(Math.random() * 100) + 1; // Random number between 1 - 100
  console.log(y);
  return x + y;
}

console.log(subtract(5)); // Unpredictable

Just like add() is pure and subtract() is not, a presentational component behaves like a pure function: same input, same output. The output might be how the UI appears or an event with associated data.

More About Inputs and Outputs

If you’ve built a Canvas App before, you’ve already used components – even if you didn’t realize it. Most controls in a Canvas App are presentational components.

Take the Label control. It receives an input (Text) and renders output (the text on screen).

Events are another kind of output. For example, the Button control emits an event when clicked – handled through the OnSelect property. That property allows the app to respond to the click and perform some logic.

💡 When a component sends a message back to the application the component is said to have emitted an event.

Now let’s look at the Text Input control.

Like the others, it has inputs (like Placeholder). But it also emits a Change event via OnChange. Even better, it passes data back to the application through its Value property. As the user types, the value updates. That value is how we access what they typed.

How to Build Your Own Component

Let’s build a simple, customized input component. It will include:

• A label above the input

• Optional “required” validation

• Change detection and data output

Here is what it will look like:

Part 1: Create the Component

1. Navigate to the Components section of your Canvas App.

2. Add a new component and name it cmp_baseInput.

3. Resize it to 340 (w) x 100 (h).

Part 2: Add Controls

1. Add a Text Input control, centered.

2. Add two Labels—one above, one below the input.

3. Rename them:

   • lbl_label

   • lbl_hint

   • txt_textField

Part 3: Add Custom Properties

Add four properties to the component. We're primarily concerned with the Property Type, Property Definition, and Data Type properties.

• IsRequired (Data, Input, Boolean)

• Label (Data, Input, Text)

• Value (Data, Output, Text)

• OnChange (Event)

Part 4: Connect the Properties

Set the control's properties as follows.

lbl_label.Text = cmp_baseInput.Label

lbl_hint.Text = "This field is required."
lbl_hint.Visible = cmp_baseInput.IsRequired And Len(txt_textField.Value) < 1

txt_textField.OnChange = cmp_baseInput.OnChange()

cmp_baseInput.Value = txt_textField.Value
cmp_baseInput.Label = "Placeholder Label"

Part 5: Style It

lbl_label.Size = 12
lbl_label.Height = 24
lbl_label.FontColor = RGBA(122, 138, 143, 1)

lbl_hint.Size = 10
lbl_hint.Height = 24
lbl_hint.FontColor = RGBA(215, 58, 60, 1)
lbl_hint.FontWeight = 'TextCanvas.Weight'.Semibold

Part 6: Add It to the App

1. Go back to the application screen.

2. Insert the component and name it cmp_userName.

3. Add a label nearby and set its text to:
   "The user name is: " & cmp_userName.Value

Part 7: Test It

• Type in the component and click outside of it → label near the component updates and the hint disappears.

• Clear the text → hint reappears

• Set IsRequired to false → hint disappears

• Set OnChange to Notify("A change occurred!") and type in the input→ a toast message appears with you notification.

Wrapping Up

You’ve just created a functional, presentational component. It handles labels, validation, value output, and even events – all in one package.

This is the real power of components: abstraction, clarity, and reusability. Whether you're in a traditional or low-code environment, thinking in components helps you break complexity into manageable parts.

As your apps grow, this mindset will pay off. You'll spend less time rewriting logic and more time building value – one well-defined part at a time.

Found this helpful? I write about practical automation, productivity systems, and building smarter workflows — without the jargon. Visit me at brandonwoz.com.

Stay curious and keep building.

But as this happens, questions arise, such as who supports these applications? And who will make the updates if there is a feature request or bug?

Many low-code applications are often created by a single developer, inherently leading to a single point of failure.

And don't let the advertised simplicity of low-code trick you into thinking anyone can edit the app, fix any issues, and add new features. Low code can still contain complexity, and complex solutions can quickly become a problem for organizations and teams that leverage dozens, if not hundreds, of other low- or non-low-code dependencies.

This doesn't mean that organizations should strictly restrict who can create these applications. Doing so would contradict the very purpose of low code. It's a model that empowers stakeholders themselves to rapidly prototype ideas and develop low-cost solutions to problems that, in traditional development, might cost millions of dollars.

In this low-code world, both organizations and developers need a plan. Developers, specifically, should have a plan to transfer knowledge of their products, whether working in a team or independently.

How to Simplify Complexity

Our relatively small team has created numerous low-code solutions, primarily leveraging Microsoft's suite of products. Some of these solutions are simple low-code canvas apps, while others contain hundreds of dependencies that are anything but low-code.

We've learned, sometimes the hard way, the importance of ensuring maintainability in our development. This means supporting the applications we build and enabling existing and new team members to support them in the future.

Initially, we found ourselves drawn to the premise of being able to create products that solve problems quickly. Before we knew it, we had our own problem: how do we support the array of these products, ensuring that not just us but new team members could do so as well?

Slow Down to Speed Up

This might sound contrary to the low-code paradigm, but taking frequent pauses to consider the long-term impacts of your decisions is critical to ensuring the tools you build today can be supported tomorrow.

This does not mean reverting back to the speeds of traditional software development, but you should not consider building low-code products as a race to the finish line.

Pair Programming

Incorporating traditional software development practices can significantly benefit the low-code movement. Even if your applications involve little to no conventional code, concepts like pair programming can be effectively applied when building low-code products.

Take, for example, the process of building a Power App. Traditionally, only one person could edit an app at a time. Although that limitation has changed—multiple people can now edit an app simultaneously—defining a collaborative process remains crucial.

Our team often employs a primary "driver" approach, where one member leads the development while another observes, providing real-time feedback and suggestions.

This method keeps everyone engaged and helps mitigate the effects of tunnel vision on the product. And this collaborative approach is especially valuable for more complex aspects of the application.

For more straightforward tasks, we often work in parallel but stay closely connected via Teams or Zoom, ready to coordinate and ensure each different component is part of a cohesive whole.

Application/Code Reviews

Low code doesn't mean no code. It is challenging to create robust applications with drag-and-drop alone. Even something like Power Apps has its own language called Power FX.

Schedule time each week to walk through or review others' applications to become familiar with their creations. Look for places where things can be improved, and be ready to accept feedback on your creations, too.

If you're using traditional code in your project, some of this can be accomplished with PRs. For purely low-code implementations, keep a document of changes and have a sign-off process to ensure other team members can access new changes.

For example, imagine adding a new screen to a Canvas app, allowing users to update personal settings. That change should be documented as unreviewed until at least one other team member has reviewed and signed off on this new feature.

Get Other Team Members Involved

If you're on a team, each product should involve at least two people to avoid single points of failure. Ensure each product has a primary and secondary developer or product owner. For larger teams, allow that secondary role to rotate, ensuring each member is more intimately involved with the team's products.

One way to get others involved and up to speed is to have other team members add new features or fix bugs in existing products under the guidance of the primary or lead developer. This knowledge transfer will help cultivate ownership in the various products your team supports, leading to higher engagement and motivation.

Additionally, as the workload is distributed more evenly across the team, bottlenecks are reduced, allowing for more expeditious handling of fixing bugs and enhancing products.

When a Hands-On-Approach isn't Possible...

Much of what I describe above is an attempt to get others involved with projects. The more we touch these things, the better we will understand them.

Inevitably, however, when this hands-on experience isn't possible, it is essential to have practices that can mitigate the effects of isolated development—that is, a development done by one or just a few people.

The two most important things we can do are create and maintain comprehensive documentation about our products and use standard practices as much as possible. We'll talk about documentation first.

Document, Document, Document

As you've probably experienced, the low-code movement allows applications to be created quickly. The more applications exist, the fewer touchpoints we have with older ones. While those touchpoints are critical to the knowledge transfer process, relying on them alone isn't enough.

Whether you're on a team or a solo developer, creating documentation that describes each aspect of your products is critical. For small projects, this may be a simple text document. For larger projects, you could utilize a SharePoint site. Of course, as products become even more complex, the various dependencies will likely have their own documentation (for example, Git repositories).

Here is an example of how you might document a product you are building:

Let's say you have an application that allows users to reserve a conference room for meetings. That application consists of a user interface (such as a Canvas app) and custom code that creates a follow-up reminder for the person who reserved the meeting a day before. This reminder could send an email to remind the user about the meeting, and if the meeting is no longer occurring, encourage them to cancel the reservation. Finally, this product could also have a reporting element, where administrators can see conference room utilization over time to better understand demand.

Here is how you might document this project:

1. Establish a single source of truth about this project, such as a SharePoint page.

2. This page briefly describes the project, the product owners, and the lead developers.

3. The page would also briefly describe this project's components (Canvas app, custom code, and reporting dashboard).

4. Finally, you would include documentation on any easy-to-overlook aspects or non-standard project implementations (more on standardization later).

The SharePoint page handles the high-level overview of the project and gets you pointed in the right direction. Regarding the individual components, the Canvas app will include comments and notes in the version history, and your custom code will leverage Git and often include a detailed readme.

Documentation can be challenging, but it is critical. While documentation should be comprehensive, it should complement the hands-on knowledge transfer techniques described above.

Standardize as Much as Possible

Whether it is low-code or traditional development, it is important to have standard practices. This is even more important when talking about low code because of the speed at which things can be developed and potentially get out of control.

From project planning, design, development, and testing to cross training team members, make time to create standard practices for each phase.

Standardization shouldn't be considered a way to eliminate the need for cross-training and documentation but rather a way to complement those stages and reduce the time needed in those areas.

If you can approach a problem the same way every time, you can spend time discussing those non-standard and easy-to-forget parts of what you're building.

Here are some questions to get you started:

1. What big-picture steps will each application require? Who will be involved in those steps?

2. What tools will you use? (for example, Power Apps, Appian, Pega)

3. Can you support traditional development? If so, how will that look?

4. What is your philosophical approach to development? For example, should you design the user interface or business logic first? What database will you use? (for example, SharePoint or Dataverse)

5. What conventions will you use in your code? (for example, naming conventions for screens and variables)

6. What does this knowledge transfer or cross-training process look like? Do you have dedicated times each week to review each other's work?

Of course, this list goes on. The more you learn, the more you'll realize what needs to be discussed. Get started by creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), and be prepared to edit it early and often.

What if I am a Solo Developer?

If you're a solo developer, it may be easy to think that the recommendations above don't apply. But this couldn't be further from the truth. Creating and maintaining a knowledge-transfer framework is even more critical as a solo developer. While co-developing and pair programming are not directly applicable, the concepts still apply.

For example, take time to meet other developers and ask for feedback. At a minimum, it will be an excellent way to meet other people doing the same thing. And, of course, with AI taking a front row in programming, you can always leverage AI to help you learn new techniques and optimize the things you are building.

Finally, documentation and standard practices are just as necessary for the individual developer. First, if you ever work with others, you'll have a reference for your work. Second, these things will act as an external reminder of how you intend to solve development-related problems in the future.

Conclusion

While low-code platforms offer incredible speed and flexibility, they can also introduce challenges when it comes to maintenance. Rapid development, if not managed carefully, can lead to issues that undermine the long-term success of your applications.

But by intentionally slowing down and establishing a clear plan for knowledge transfer, you can safeguard the future of your critical products. This approach ensures that applications remain supported and sustainable, both now and for years to come.

Stay curious.

Found this helpful? I write about practical automation, productivity systems, and building smarter workflows — without the jargon. Visit me at brandonwoz.com.

In this article, I will guide you through building a regression model that predicts automobile prices using Azure Machine Learning’s Low-Code/No-Code tools.

Regression is a supervised machine learning technique used for predicting numerical values. To understand regression better, you can read my previous article here.

Prerequisites

To fully understand and follow the steps in this tutorial, you need the following:

1. An Azure account: You must have an active Azure account.

2. An Azure subscription: An active Azure subscription is required.

If you don’t have an Azure account yet, you can sign up for Azure for Students, the GitHub Student Developer Pack, or an Azure Free Trial. These options provide various benefits and free credits to get you started.

Now let's get into building our model. Follow the steps below to begin! Make sure you read till the end to learn the entire process.

Table of Contents

• How to Set Up Your Azure Machine Learning Workspace

• How to Set Up Compute Resources in Azure Machine Learning Studio

• How to Create Your Machine Learning Pipeline

• How to Build the Model

• How to Evaluate the Model

• How to Deploy the Model

• Cleaning Up

• Conclusion

How to Set Up Your Azure Machine Learning Workspace

To start working with Azure Machine Learning, you first need to create a workspace. A workspace is a centralized place to manage all the resources and experiments in your machine learning projects.

Step 1: Create a Resource Group

Start by signing in to the Azure Portal. Click the Create a resource button (the plus icon) on the left-hand navigation bar.

In the search bar, type “Machine Learning” and select Azure Machine Learning from the list.

Navigating to the Azure Home page and clicking the plus icon to create a new resource for the machine learning project

Step 2: Create a New Azure Machine Learning Resource

Now click Create to begin setting up your workspace. You will need to fill in the necessary details:

• Subscription: Select your Azure subscription.

• Resource Group: Either select an existing resource group or create a new one by clicking Create new and providing a name.

• Workspace Name: Provide a unique name for your workspace.

• Region: Choose a region that is closest to your location to reduce latency.

• Container Registry: Choose Create new unless you have an existing container registry you want to use.

Browsing the Azure Marketplace for machine learning services to find the appropriate tool for building and deploying models.

Step 3: Review and Create

Fill in the form with all the required info. Make sure you provide a unique Name and select a region. Then create your new container registry.

Review your settings to ensure everything is correct. Then click Review + create to validate your configuration. Once the validation is complete, click Create to deploy your workspace. This process may take a few minutes.

Setting up a new machine learning workspace in Azure with essential configuration details.

Step 4: Deployment

After the deployment is complete, click the Go to resource button to navigate to your new workspace.

In the workspace overview, click Launch studio to open the Azure Machine Learning Studio, where you will perform all your machine learning tasks.

Resource deployment complete in Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Services.

How to Set Up Compute Resources in Azure Machine Learning Studio

Once your workspace deployment is complete, you need to set up the compute resources required to run your machine learning experiments. Follow the steps below to do this.

Step 1: Access the Workspace

After the deployment is complete, click the Go to resource button. In the workspace overview, click Launch studio to open the Azure Machine Learning Studio.

Step 2: Create a Compute Instance

In the Azure Machine Learning Studio, navigate to the left-hand menu and click on Compute. Select the Compute instances tab, then click + New to create a new compute instance.

Fill in the required details:

• Virtual machine size: Select Standard_DS11_v2 for a balance of performance at minimal cost.

• Compute name: Enter a unique name for your compute instance.

Then click Create set up the compute instance. This process might take a few minutes.

Configuring compute instances in Azure Machine Learning to ensure the required computational power for training machine learning models.

Step 3: Create a Compute Cluster

In addition to a compute instance, you will need a compute cluster for scalable training. Still under the Compute section, select the Compute clusters tab and click + New.

Fill in the details:

• Cluster name: Enter a unique name for your compute cluster.

• Virtual machine size: Choose Standard_DS11_v2.

• Minimum number of nodes: Set to 0 to save costs when not in use.

• Maximum number of nodes: Set to 2 for this tutorial.

Then click Create to set up the compute cluster. Wait for the cluster to be in a running state before proceeding.

Overview of compute clusters in Azure Machine Learning

How to Create Your Machine Learning Pipeline

In this section, we will create a machine learning pipeline using Azure Machine Learning Designer. Pipelines help streamline the process of preparing data, training models, and deploying them.

Step 1: Navigate to the Designer

In the Azure Machine Learning Studio, go to the left navigation bar and click on Designer. Then click + New pipeline to start creating a new pipeline.

Interface showing the creation of a new pipeline.

Step 2: Add Your Data

You have the option to use external data or prebuilt sample datasets. For this tutorial, we’ll use a prebuilt sample dataset.

To use prebuilt sample data, click on the Components tab. Use the search bar or manually scroll to find the Automobile price data dataset. Drag and drop the dataset onto the canvas in the Designer.

Interface showing the addition of Automobile price data set.

Step 3: Explore the Data

Once the dataset is on the canvas, click on it to view its details. Navigate to the Visualizations tab to explore data distribution and statistical summaries. Click the Output+logs tab and then Preview data to inspect the first few rows of the dataset. This will help you understand the data's structure and identify any potential issues.

Visualization of dataset

Step 4: Prepare the Data

To specify the variables we want to work with, we need to filter out unnecessary columns.

From the Data Transformation section, drag and drop the Select Columns in Dataset module onto the canvas below the dataset. Connect the output node of the dataset to the input node of the Select Columns in Dataset module.

Open the module’s settings, select the columns you want to include in your model, and exclude irrelevant columns such as normalized-losses. (We are removing this column because it has high percentage of missing data). Click Save and close to apply the changes.

Interface for selecting columns in the dataset.

Next, you will need to clean any missing data. This helps us handle missing values to improve the model's accuracy.

To do this, drag and drop the Clean Missing Data module onto the canvas, below the Select Columns in Dataset module. Connect the nodes and configure the settings to remove rows with missing values. Save and close the settings.

Interface for cleaning columns in the dataset.

Step 5: Normalize the Data

To ensure the model performs well, we need to normalize the data. To do this, from the Data Transformation section, drag and drop the Normalize Data module onto the canvas. Connect the output of the Clean Missing Data module to the input of the Normalize Data module.

You'll want to configure the module to use the MinMax scaling method and select the columns to normalize, you can type them out manually by separating each column with a comma. Then save and close the settings.

Interface for normalizing columns in the dataset.

Step 6: Finalize the Pipeline Setup

Once all transformations are in place, review the pipeline to ensure all steps are correctly configured. Click Submit to run the pipeline. You can monitor the pipeline’s progress in the Jobs section.

NOTE: Each time you set up a module and you click submit, view the details of the pipeline job to keep track of your flows.

Monitoring pipeline through the link

How to Build the Model

This is the fun step where we start building our machine learning model by preparing the dataset for training and applying the appropriate algorithms.

Step 1: Split the Dataset

Drag and drop the Split Data module onto the canvas. Then connect the output of the Normalize Data module to the input of the Split Data module.

In the settings panel of the Split Data module:

• Set the Fraction of rows in the first output dataset to 0.7. This means 70% of the data will be used for training the model.

• Set the Randomized seed to any number to ensure reproducibility. For this tutorial, use 123.

Step 2: Train the Model

Now it's time to add the Train Model block. Drag and drop the Train Model module onto the canvas. Connect the first output of the Split Data module (the 70% training data) to the input of the Train Model module.

Click on the Train Model module to configure its settings. In the Edit column section, select the target variable, which in this case is price. Save and close the settings.

Next, you'll add the Training Algorithm. From the Machine Learning Algorithms section, drag and drop the Linear Regression module onto the canvas. Connect the output of the Linear Regression module to the right input of the Train Model module.

Interface showing connection of modules in pipeline

Step 3: Evaluate the Model:

Drag and drop the Score Model module onto the canvas. Connect the second output of the Split Data module (the 30% testing data) to the left input of the Score Model module. Connect the output of the Train Model module to the right input of the Score Model module.  This will apply the trained model to the testing data to evaluate its performance.

Next, drag and drop the Evaluate Model module onto the canvas. Connect the output of the Score Model module to the input of the Evaluate Model module. This will provide various evaluation metrics to assess the model’s accuracy.

Interface showing connection of modules in pipeline

Step 4: Review and Submit

Double-check all connections and settings in your pipeline. Then click Submit to run the model training and evaluation pipeline. You can monitor the job’s progress in the Jobs section, where you can view logs and outputs.

How to Evaluate the Model

After training our model, it’s important to evaluate its performance to ensure it’s making accurate predictions. We will use the Score Model and Evaluate Model modules for this purpose.

Step 1: Evaluate the Model’s Performance

Drag and drop the Evaluate Model module onto the canvas. Connect the output of the Score Model module to the input of the Evaluate Model module.

The Evaluate Model module will generate various evaluation metrics, such as Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), and R-squared (R²), which are critical for assessing the accuracy and performance of the regression model.

Explore the Evaluation Metrics:

Once the pipeline execution is complete, click on the Evaluate Model module to explore the detailed metrics.

Here are some key metrics to focus on:

• Mean Absolute Error (MAE): Measures the average magnitude of errors in predictions, without considering their direction. Lower values indicate better accuracy.

• Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE): Similar to MAE but gives more weight to larger errors. Lower values are better.

• R-squared (R²): Indicates how well the model’s predictions match the actual data. Values closer to 1 signify a better fit.

Visualization of data output from the regression model.

We just built and evaluated our model. Yayy!

How to Deploy the Model

Now that we have trained and evaluated our regression model, it’s time to deploy it for real-time inference using Azure Machine Learning. Follow these steps to deploy the model and create an inference pipeline.

Step 1: Create the Inference Pipeline

Navigate to the Designer section in Azure Machine Learning Studio and create a new pipeline for deployment. Select Real-time inference to set up the deployment pipeline automatically.

Step 2: Configure the Pipeline

After selecting Real-time inference, the pipeline will be initialized with default components. You can modify the pipeline by adding necessary components.

We have to make some changes like adding Enter data manually, Execute python script modules. Also, in the select column in dataset block, edit and remove the price column. Remove connection between Score model and web service.

• Enter Data Manually: Drag and drop this block onto the canvas. This component allows manual input of data for prediction. Copy and paste the data below into the data field.

symboling,fuel-type,aspiration,num-of-doors,body-style,drive-wheels,engine-location,wheel-base,length,width,height,curb-weight,engine-type,num-of-cylinders,engine-size,fuel-system,bore,stroke,compression-ratio,horsepower,peak-rpm,city-mpg,highway-mpg,make 3,gas,std,two,convertible,rwd,front,88.6,168.8,64.1,48.8,2548,dohc,four,130,mpfi,3.47,2.68,9,111,5000,21,27,alfa-romero giulia 3,gas,std,two,convertible,rwd,front,88.6,168.8,64.1,48.8,2548,dohc,four,130,mpfi,3.47,2.68,9,111,5000,21,27,alfa-romero stelvio 1,gas,std,two,hatchback,rwd,front,94.5,171.2,65.5,52.4,2823,ohcv,six,152,mpfi,2.68,3.47,9,154,5000,19,26,alfa-romero Quadrifoglio 2,gas,std,four,sedan,fwd,front,99.8,176.6,66.2,54.3,2337,ohc,four,109,mpfi,3.19,3.4,10,102,5500,24,30,audi 100 ls 2,gas,std,four,sedan,4wd,front,99.4,176.6,66.4,54.3,2824,ohc,five,136,mpfi,3.19,3.4,8,115,5500,18,22,audi 100ls 2,gas,std,two,sedan,fwd,front,99.8,177.3,66.3,53.1,2507,ohc,five,136,mpfi,3.19,3.4,8.5,110,5500,19,25,audi fox 1,gas,std,four,sedan,fwd,front,105.8,192.7,71.4,55.7,2844,ohc,five,136,mpfi,3.19,3.4,8.5,110,5500,19,25,audi 100ls 1,gas,std,four,wagon,fwd,front,105.8,192.7,71.4,55.7,2954,ohc,five,136,mpfi,3.19,3.4,8.5,110,5500,19,25,audi 5000 1,gas,turbo,four,sedan,fwd,front,105.8,192.7,71.4,55.9,3086,ohc,five,131,mpfi,3.13,3.4,8.3,140,5500,17,20,audi 4000

• Execute Python Script: Replace the code in this block with:

import pandas as pd def azureml_main(dataframe1=None, dataframe2=None): scored_results = dataframe1[["Scored Labels"]] scored_results.rename(columns={"Scored Labels": "predicted price"}, inplace=True)
return scored_results

• Select Columns in Dataset: Edit and remove the price column to ensure it’s not included in the input data for predictions.

• Remove Connection: Disconnect the Score Model module from the web service output to ensure only the Execute Python Script block connects to it.

See the images below for a visual representation of how the connections are configured.

Interface of modules connection in pipeline

Step 3: Submit and Deploy the Model

Submit the flow and wait for all processes to complete successfully (green check mark). Once your deployment is successful, you can explore the output to verify everything is functioning as expected.

You can now deploy the model as a real-time web service for predictions.

Configuration settings for setting up new pipeline

Once all the processes are successfully completed in Azure Machine Learning Studio, you are ready to explore the output and deploy your trained model as a real-time web service.

Here’s how you can proceed:

1. Review Pipeline Execution: Ensure that all the steps in your pipeline have completed with a green check mark indicating success.

2. View Outputs and Visualizations: Navigate through the different components of your pipeline to inspect outputs and visualizations generated during data transformation, model training, and evaluation stages. This helps in understanding how each step has contributed to the overall model performance.

3. Check Evaluation Metrics: Examine the evaluation scores generated by the Score Model block to assess the performance of your trained regression model. Common evaluation metrics include Mean Squared Error (MSE), R-squared (R2), and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). These metrics provide insights into how well your model predicts automobile prices based on the input features.

Visualization of data output from model evaluation.

Put the following checks in place before starting the deployment:

Prepare for Deployment

First, ensure that the Execute Python Script block is correctly configured to transform input data and produce predicted prices.

You'll also want to verify that the pipeline is set up to handle real-time inference for deploying the model.

Submit the Pipeline

Click on the submit button to initiate the deployment process. Wait for Azure Machine Learning to complete the deployment and verify that all components have been successfully deployed.

Deploy as Web Service

Once deployment is confirmed successful, you can deploy the model as a real-time web service. This web service will be hosted on Azure and can be accessed via API endpoints, allowing applications to send data and receive predictions in real-time.

Testing the Web Service:

Use the Enter Data Manually block to manually input test data or use external systems to send requests to the deployed web service endpoint. You can verify that the web service responds with predicted prices based on the input features.

Monitor and Manage:

Monitor the performance of your deployed web service using Azure Machine Learning monitoring tools. You can manage the deployment by scaling resources as needed or updating the model with new data or improved versions.

Deploying your regression model as a real-time web service enables you to use its predictive capabilities in various applications without the need for direct human intervention. It ensures that your model can continuously provide accurate predictions based on real-time data inputs.

Interface showing predicted price

Clean Up

The web service you created is hosted in an Azure Container Instance. If you don’t intend to experiment with it further, you should delete the endpoint to avoid accruing unnecessary Azure usage.

Deleting your compute ensures your subscription won’t be charged for compute resources. You will, however, be charged a small amount for data storage as long as the Azure Machine Learning workspace exists in your subscription.

If you have finished exploring Azure Machine Learning, you can delete the Azure Machine Learning workspace and associated resources.

To delete your workspace:

1. In the Azure portal, in the Resource groups page, open the resource group you specified when creating your Azure Machine Learning workspace.

2. Click Delete resource group, type the resource group name to confirm you want to delete it, and select Delete.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully created and deployed a regression model using Azure Machine Learning Designer without writing a single line of code.

In this tutorial, you have learned how to clean and preprocess data, build and train a machine learning model, evaluate its performance, and deploy it as a web service. This low-code/no-code approach in Azure Machine Learning Designer makes it accessible for everyone to use the power of machine learning.

Remember to clean up your resources to avoid unnecessary charges. With these skills, you can now experiment with other datasets and machine learning problems. Azure's possibilities are endless, and Azure Machine Learning provides a robust platform for your data science projects.

Till next time, cheers :)

We just published a course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you build a RegEx generating dashboard using the OpenAI API and a low code solution called Retool. This course is taught by Ania Kubow, a seasoned software developer and course creator who will guide you through the process of building this powerful tool.

With this RegEx generator dashboard, you can simply input the text you want to manipulate and the desired outcome, and the dashboard will generate the RegEx for you. For example, if you want to remove all the numbers from a sentence, you can type "removes all the numbers from the sentence," and the dashboard will generate the RegEx code "/[^0-9]/g" for you. You can even add a test string to see the output of the RegEx code.

The course is divided into several sections, starting with an introduction to the project and an overview of Regular Expressions. You will then learn how to create the header element, text area, custom code editor, and other page elements. The course will also cover configuring the OpenAI API and setting up the code.

This video course is suitable for both beginners and experienced developers who want to learn how to build a RegEx generator dashboard using low code solutions and the OpenAI API. By the end of this course, you will have a powerful tool that will save you time and effort when manipulating strings.

This video was made possible with a grant from Retool. You can check out their website at www.retool.com.

Watch the full course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (30 minute watch).

We just published a tutorial on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you how to build a B2B ecommerce app with Stripe, Postgres, and a REST API backend. And you will do this all with little to no code.

Ania Kubów developed this course. Ania is a software developer and popular instructor.

Ania will show you how to build an order management dashboard, an employee dashboard, and a developer portal. And you learn how to implement email integration into the apps.

All the application you create will be linked to a single database. These apps are similar to what you would see in a small- to medium-sized company.

Ania will take you through everything step-by-step. She will start with an explainer and then teach each app in three separate tutorials. By the end of the tutorial you will know how to build your own internal tools.

One of the apps you will build.

You will use the Retool platform to build the business tools. Retool is a drag-and-drop no-code editor with many of pre-built components to build internal CRUD (create, read, update, delete) apps as fast as possible. Retool provided a grant to make this course possible.

Retool provided a grant to make this course possible. Learn more at https://retool.com.

Watch the full course below or on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (2-hour watch).

I have recently started being active in a couple of online maker communities, and I've met a lot of talented folks who are building amazing products.

One thing that has stood out to me while engaging with these makers is that many of them are not developers – in the sense that they don't write code to build their products.

Instead, they use services that allow you to create apps and websites without having to touch any code, or in other words, no-code tools.

I never really spent time learning about these tools for a couple of reasons: first, as a developer, I thought I had enough skills to create whatever I wanted with code. The second was the cost – why would I pay for something like Webflow to create a website when I could write my own code and get it done without paying anything?

But the more time I spent learning about the no-code community, the more I realized that there's something important here that I have been missing out on. Even as someone who knows how to write code.

The critical thing for me is that no-code allows you to quickly iterate through ideas and bring them to life at a much faster pace than having to write code.

Thinking about it now, the amount of time that I have saved over the past couple of months creating things with no-code platforms and the no-code automation tools has been much more valuable to me than the small cost.

So, in short, it took me very little time to understand the enormous amount of value that I get out of these tools now, even as a developer.

As a result, I have decided to summarize my no-code learnings from the last couple of months in this article. I hope to help others who want to create their ideas – whether you don't know how to code or you're a developer who's open to learning about these no-code tools.

So let's get started with the first and most common question.

What is No-Code?

There is no single answer to this question, as it can mean different things to different people. In general, however, "no-code" refers to a type of software development approach that describes a step away from writing code by hand and using more automated tools.

This process can include using code generation tools, code libraries, or interactive applications that make it easy to create complex applications without touching a single line of code.

No code can be a great way to prototype and test new ideas. Using a platform that allows you to create and deploy applications quickly, you can rapidly test out your visions and see how they work in the real world. This then gives you the power to iterate through and validate your ideas.

Now that we have a better understanding of no-code, let's look at the next most common question.

Which No-Code Tool Should I Learn?

With a quick search, you can find tons of databases and websites that list no-code and automation tools that you can use for your next project. Here's a no-code tools list, for example.

This is a massive benefit for us, as there are a lot of advantages to having a lot of options in the no-code space. You can find the perfect platform for your needs, quickly get up and running, and avoid having to learn a new language or framework.

But it can be challenging to know which one is the best for your needs. With so many options, it's tough to keep up with all of the changes in the space. Additionally, it can be hard to find the right community and support network.

So to make this easier, I have broken the available options into multiple categories, such as website, app, and form builders. Then, I have selected the most common ones that I have come across for each category, hoping to make it easier for you to decide which one to go with.

No-Code Website Builders

Webflow

Webflow is a drag-and-drop website builder. It has a simple and user-friendly interface that allows you to design and build websites without touching a single line of code.

Webflow also comes with an extensive library of pre-made elements and templates that make it easy to go from 0 to 1 in just a couple of hours.

As mentioned on their website, Webflow is being used by more than 3.5 million designers and teams to create their websites without knowing anything about writing code.

Webflow Benefits:

1. Easy to create beautiful websites
2. Powerful CMS for managing dynamic content

Webflow Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Basic: $19/month or $12/month annually
3. CMS: $20/month or $16/month annually
4. Business: $45/mo or $36/month annually

Webflow Screenshot

Bubble

Bubble is another online design tool for building websites, landing pages, and online stores. Similar to Webflow, Bubble is also a no-code platform for building websites without having to write any code.

Bubble allows you to make your websites and apps fully functional without touching a single line of code.

I personally have worked with Bubble and find it an excellent tool for beginners and experts alike.

Bubble Benefits:

1. Powerful workflows for creating fully functional web apps
2. Many plugins and integrations for third party services

Bubble Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Personal: $29/month or $25/month annually
3. Professional: $129/month or $115/month annually
4. Production: $529/month or $475/month annually

Bubble Screenshot

Bubble vs Webflow

So you might wonder which is better, Webflow or Bubble?

Well, Webflow is better suited to developing lightweight web pages and relatively simple web apps. Bubble is for online projects that are more complicated and more customizable and progressive web apps.

Bubble's plugin engine and workflows make it easy to add additional logic to your website, making it possible to create more sophisticated applications.

On the other hand, Webflow makes it easier to design more sophisticated UI and UX designs, while Bubble takes a more technical and data-driven approach to web development.

If you are going for a simple web page, a blog, or a landing page for your product, service, or idea, I would suggest going with Webflow. But if you're doing a project that deals with data and requires workflows and plugins, Bubble would be a better choice.

I have written a separate blog post for a thorough comparison of Bubble and Webflow if you are still not convinced which is a better option for you.

Now that you've hopefully decided on which website builder to go with, let's move on to the next step. For many developers, the next step is to connect different apps and automate workflows.

No-Code Databases

Notion

You may have already heard of Notion, as it's gained a ton of popularity in recent years. This tool is a flexible workspace that adapts to your use case, making it easy to organize your ideas and projects and store information.

Notion's flexibility makes it an all-in-one tool for managing data for many no-code developers. It makes it easy to create and share templates, use different components to store various data, and even lets you publish your content to the internet, which makes it a website builder.

You can also integrate Notion with your projects, such as Bubble, and use it as a dashboard for managing your data.

Notion Benefits:

1. Very user friendly
2. Easy learning curve
3. Good for collaborative work

Notion Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Personal Pro: $5/month or $4/month annually
3. Team: $10/month or $8/month annually

Notion Screenshot

Airtable

Airtable is a part spreadsheet and a part database making it very easy to organize and manage your data. It's very simple and easy to use while being very powerful.

Airtable makes it easy to create different views such as Calendar, Forms, Kanban, and Grid, making it suitable for many use cases.

Similar to Notion, you can integrate Airtable with different tools to make even more powerful workflows for your project.

Airtable Benefits:

1. Easy to create complex databases
2. Various database schemas available

Airtable Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Plus: $12/month or $10/month annually
3. Pro: $24/month or $20/month annually

Airtable Screenshot

No-code form builders

Typeform

Typeform is a web-based form builder that allows users to create aesthetically appealing forms. This builder is mainly used for interactive surveys, with questions structured so that respondents may readily answer them.

I have found Typeform to be a great tool when I come up with a new project idea and would like to get some feedback for validation before jumping in to create the project. In these cases, I simply write a couple of questions on a form and send it to my potential users, asking what they think.

Typeform Benefits:

1. Easy to create fun and beautiful forms
2. Very easy to export your form data

Typeform Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Basic: $29/month or $25/month annually
3. Plus: $59/month or $50/month annually
4. Business: $99/month or $83/month annually

Typeform Screenshot

JotForm

Jotform is a sophisticated online tool that allows anybody to quickly build unique web forms. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface makes creating forms a breeze, and it doesn't need you to write a single word of code.

JotForm is very similar to Typeform, except for a couple of minor differences that may or may not make a difference to you. At the end of the day, I would suggest checking both their offerings before deciding which one would be the better option for you.

JotForm Benefits:

1. Multiple question/input formats
2. Can add custom themes and branding

JotForm Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Bronze: $29/month or $24/month annually
3. Silver: $39/month or $29/month annually

JotForms Screenshot

No-Code Automation List

Zapier

Zapier is a simple tool that allows you to connect different applications and create custom workflows to automate various parts of your business. It's free to use, but you can pay for more features.

Zapier is one of my favorite tools as it provides a lot of integrations out of the box and allows you to connect many different services and create custom workflows.

For example, one of my common automation with Zapier is when I want to get some validation feedback via survey forms. I have a custom flow using the Typeform and LogSnag integrations that allows me to track every time I get a new survey on Typeform and send it to LogSnag to track these surveys and get a push notification as soon as they happen.

Zapier Benefits:

1. Thousands of integrations and pre-built workflows
2. Very flexible, versatile, and easy to use

Zapier Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Starter: $29.99/month or $19.99/month annually
3. Professional: $73.50/month or $49/month annually
4. Team: $448.50/month or $299/month annually
5. Company: $898.50/month or $599/month annually

Zapier Screenshot

Make

Make, formerly known as Integromat, is another automation service for automating tasks and workflows to apps and systems.

Make works by connecting your favorite apps/services to build a scenario that automatically transfers and transforms your data. Simply design a scenario that watches for new data in one app/service, configure the following modules for the required end result, and Make will do the process for you.

Like Zapier, Make provides many plugins to make the integration process as easy as possible.

Make Benefits:

1. Very affordable pricing plans
2. Option of adding custom code

Make Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Core: $10.59/month or $9/month annually
3. Pro: $18.82/month or $16/month annually
4. Teams: $34.12/month or $29/month annually

Make Screenshot

There are tons of other no-code tools for many specific use cases, but based on my discussions with the makers in the no-code space, most are satisfied with the services in this no-code tools list.

Forms make it easy to collect surveys and validate your ideas. Website builders make it extremely easy to create static or even more complex web applications to recapture the list. Finally, automation tools make it possible to create custom workflows and automate the tasks for these websites.

Conclusion

Before I finish this post, I would like to introduce another no-code tool that I have been working on for the past couple of months.

LogSnag

LogSnag is a simple event tracking tool that makes it easy to track important events within your projects. For example, with LogSnag, you can track new signups, subscriptions, payments, or anything else you may want to keep an eye on within your project.

LogSnag provides plugins for other services such as Zapier and Bubble to make it easy to add to your project. In addition, it sends you push notifications when something important happens, creates a timeline of events, and provides simple analytics to know how your project is doing.

LogSnag Screenshot

LogSnag Benefits:

1. Push notifications on all of your devices
2. Simple charts and analytics

LogSnag Pricing Plans:

1. Free: Always free
2. Hobbyist: $9/month or $7/month annually
3. Startup: $16/month or $19/month annually
4. Professional: $59/month or $49/month annually

I hope that you have found this list of tools useful. I highly suggest you take a look into these services.

Most of the services listed here have a free tier that you can use to learn more about the product and decide whether it's the right fit for you before paying anything for the service.

We just published a course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you how to use the Appsmith Low-Code platform.

Ania Kubów created this course. She is a popular instructor who has published many courses both on the freeCodeCamp channel and her own YouTube channel.

In this course you will learn how to use low code tools and APIs to build a customer support dashboard. You will learn how create the dashboard using the Appsmith platform, Google Sheet API, and the Stripe API.

You will learn how to quickly build tools that many startups use by using the low-code approach.

Appsmith provided a grant that made this course possible.

Low-code tool

When watching this course, it is helpful if you already have basic knowledge of JavaScript and HTTP request methods. However, you should still be able to follow along if you are new to the concepts because Ania will guide you step-by-step through the process.

You will create a support dashboard where you can modify customer details, browse order history, refund active orders, and manually add orders. And all this will be created with the Appsmith low-code platform.

Watch the full course below or on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (2-hour watch).

Since every business is a little different, it can be helpful to create your own CRM to meet your exact needs.

We just published a course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you how to build your own CRM, using almost no code.

Ania Kubów developed this course. Ania is an experienced developer and course creator who has taught software skills to millions of people.

In this course you will learn how to build a CRM using the Retool low-code platform. You will learn how to use the Google Sheet API, Stripe API, SMTP API, as well as a PostgreSQL database.

After learning the basics of the low-code platform, you will learn about:

• Getting Data using the Google Sheets API
• Creating Tables
• Adding Data using the Google Sheets API
• Deleting Data using the Google Sheets API
• Processing refunds with the Stripe API
• Sending emails with SMTP
• Migrating to PostgreSQL

This course was made possible Retool. Learn more at https://retool.com.

Watch the full course below or on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (2-hour watch).

We just released a course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you about Low-Code solutions by building 3 financial apps.

Ania Kubów developed this course. She is a ex-financial Broker turned software developer.

Think of low-code platforms as app builders that essentially give you all the UI components you need and also give you the option to integrate them using pre-configured inputs for APIs.

This type of solution is perfect for personal trackers on your finances, in-house apps that need to be spun up quickly, or perhaps Proof of Concept prototypes looking for investment.

The first app you will build is a trade dashboard for brokers to log their trades as well as track their commissions. The app also communicates with their back offices with an integrated message sender thanks to Slack API.

The second app is a Crypto Dashboard using CoinAPI’s service to get live prices. It also utilizes Twillio’s API to send text messages to your friends or family about any changes you see instantly.

The final app is an invoice tracker that communicates with an external database using the GraphQL API. It allows you to embed instructional videos for those using it.

The course covers:

• Low-Code VS No-Code
• Use Cases
• Setting up Retool
• Compatible Integrations
• Building a Trade Dashboard
• Building a Crypto Dashboard
• Building an Invoice Tracker
• And of course, where to go next

Retool provided a grant to make this course possible. Learn more at https://retool.com.

Watch the full course below or on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (3-hour watch).

No-code tools let people across the world build different products and applications without writing code.

Before no-code tools, building simple websites or mobile applications took weeks or months and only experienced software developers could do it.

But that's not the case anymore. Now, you can spin up blogs, websites, and more using the right no-code tools. And even if you know how to code, these tools can help you become more productive.

There are tons of no-code tools available today. So, choosing the right ones can be tricky. This article aims to highlight some of the best no-code tools for developers to use in 2021.

Webflow

Webflow is a powerful, web-based design tool that gives you the superpower of designing, building, and launching responsive websites without writing a single line of code. Amazing right? I know!

Rather than sketching/designing your projects and then coding them into an actual product, you use a different approach with Webflow.

Websites built with Webflow are powered by Amazon Cloudfront, hosted on Fastly, and don't require external plugins.

With Webflow, you can:

• Create automatic site backups (versioning) and staging URLs.
• Move from prototype to mockup in minutes.
• You can design hundreds of pages at once.
• Design, build and launch with no stress at all.

Pricing 💵

Webflow has a free tier and four other paid tiers listed below:

• Basic: $12 a month (paid annually) or $15 a month (paid monthly)
• CMS: $16 a month (paid annually) or $20 a month (paid monthly)
• Business: $36 a month (paid annually) or $45 a month (paid monthly)
• Enterprise: You have to contact the sales team to get this information

BuildBox

Did you ever think it was possible to create exciting games without writing code? I am happy to let you know that it is!

Imagine if you are already busy with coding a game app, but a new client asked you to create a game for them. Instead of rejecting the offer, you can use BuildBox to make the game. It's a win-win situation if you ask me. 😉

Buildbox is the world's first software that truly allows anyone to create amazing games regardless of technical skill. Due to its unique user interface, making games becomes a fluid process that doesn't require any scripting, programming, or software design experience.

As a developer, you can use Buildbox to:

• Drag and drop to create unique and professional 3D games.
• Add smart assets into your game.
• Add action effects and logic to your games and more! 🚀

Pricing 💵

Buildbox has a free tier and two other paid tiers listed below:

• Plus: $9.99 a month or $89.99 per year
• Pro: $224.99 per year

Hashnode

As a developer, blogging lets you share your technical knowledge and experience with the developer community. And it also helps you reinforce your learning on every topic you write.

Hashnode enables developers to create a blog mapped to their custom domain for free. So you only have to focus on publishing articles on your blog while Hashnode takes care of the rest – customization, readership, visibility, web monetization, and so much more.

Over the years, I've seen many developers build blogs from scratch only because they wanted to map it to their personal domain and give it a peculiar look and feel. Well guess what? This no-code tool lets you achieve all that and more.

With Hashnode, you:

• Don't have to worry about maintaining or constantly updating your blog since Hashnode handles everything.
• Only have to focus on writing and publish articles on the blog.
• Will get readership on your blog from day zero.
• Can customize your blog to meet your needs and so much more!

Pricing 💵

Hashnode is free forever for developers. However, they plan to launch a paid team tier for business.

Bubble

Bubble lets you create interactive, multi-user apps for desktop and mobile web browsers, including all the features you need to build a site like Facebook or Airbnb.

Traditional web applications require you to manage your code and set up a deployment process to a web server. Not Bubble – it handles your deployment and hosting for you.

Most importantly, there are no hard limits on the number of users, the volume of traffic, or data storage.

Here a couple of ways you can use Bubble as a developer:

• You can create mobile-friendly layouts and dynamic content for a polished product that you'll be proud to show off to your prospects, customers, or investors.
• You can build responsive web apps.
• You can create hybrid mobile apps.
• You can connect to external services and hardware through APIs.

Pricing 💵

Bubble has a free tier and three more paid tiers. Find the paid tiers below:

• Personal: $25 a month (paid annually) or $29 a month (paid monthly)
• Professional: $115 a month (paid annually) or $129 a month (paid monthly)
• Production: $475 a month (paid annually) or $529 a month (paid monthly)

Coda

Coda is an all-in-one doc that brings all of your words and data into one flexible surface.

With Coda, you no longer have an unconnected web of documents, spreadsheets, databases, and niche workflow apps to get things done – because everything will be unified and brought into one location.

Coda comes with building blocks like tables and buttons – and time-saving templates so your documentation can grow and evolve with the needs of your team.

Here are a few ways you can use Coda as a developer:

• You can manage data from somewhere else in a precise way for that specific instance.
• You can edit, contextualize, or "massage" data very quickly.
• You can show or hide rows or columns, drag-and-drop columns, even group by elements to create a pivot table or kanban board.

Pricing 💵

Coda has a free tier and three more paid tiers highlighted below:

• Pro: $10/month per doc maker (paid annually) or $12 a month (paid monthly)
• Team: $30/month per doc maker (paid annually) or $36 a month (paid monthly)
• Enterprise: You have to contact the sales team to get this information

Gumroad

Gumroad lets developers start selling their digital products in seconds. It also gives you access to a great list of tools to help you engage with an audience that cares about you and your work.

You can personalize your landing page to your heart’s content, embed a follow form, add a fantastic checkout and consumption experience, and gain access to robust data based on the usage of your product.

With Gumroad, you can:

• Be as powerful as the world’s largest retailers by setting up automatic workflows and up-sells.
• Keep your audience close by adding Gumroad's widgets directly on your website.
• Make money selling courses or e-books about tech, career growth, and more!

Pricing 💵

Gumroad makes money when the creator makes money. So, the platform is free until you have more than 1000 customers. Then, you will start paying $10 monthly or $108 per year.

Notion

Notion is a fantastic tool that helps you organize your work, and you can pretty much adjust it to fit all of your needs. Also, there are a lot of templates to choose from made by incredibly creative people.

Here a couple of ways you can use Notion as a developer:

• To publish and advertise your schedule or a schedule of an upcoming event you are organizing.
• You can use it for note-taking.
• It helps you collaborate with others.
• You can use it to compile and share public documents and more.

Pricing 💵

Coda has a free tier and three more paid tiers highlighted below:

• Personal Pro: $4 a month (paid annually) or $5 a month (paid monthly)
• Team: $8 a month (paid annually) or $10 a month (paid monthly)
• Enteprise: You have to contact the sales team to get this information

Voiceflow

Voiceflow provides you with the resources you need to design, prototype, and launch voice and chatbots without writing any lines of code.

Its fast and visual drag-n-drop canvas allows you to leverage components, robust context models, interaction model exports, and more.

This no-code tool is a game-changer when it comes to creating voice or chatbots. You should check it out.

With Voiceflow, you can:

• Design prototypes for Alexa and Google Assistant.
• Build voice apps as good as custom code, easier and faster.
• Track and analyze the results of your voice apps with custom analytics.
• You get context first designs that enable you to create engaging contextually layered voice apps and conversations effortlessly.

Pricing 💵

Voiceflow has a free tier and two more paid tiers highlighted below.

• Pro: $40 a month (paid annually) or $50 a month (paid monthly)
• Enterprise: You have to contact the sales team to get this information

Bumpa

Bumpa is that one stop shop for everything a developer or business owner needs to sell online and manage their business. With Bumpa, you can set up your website with your products in less than 5 minutes.

Bumpa allows you to record sales from your website, your physical shop, various marketplaces and even on social media. This no-code tool stands out because of the ease of setting up and also managing both your online and offline systems.

With Bumpa, you can:

• Create an online store.
• Manage orders and products, track sales, share across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
• Accept payment and send out notifications to your customers directly through the app.

Pricing 💵

Bumpa has a free plan for all its users. But if you need more features, you'll have to use upgrade to a premium plan which is $9 monthly.

Zapier

You can do a lot of the work you do every day automatically thanks to Zapier.

It helps you connect your apps and moves information between them automatically. This lets you focus on your most important work instead of doing repetitive tasks.

Zapier gives you more time to build relationships, grow your team, test new strategies, and do work you enjoy. 😃

Here a couple of ways you can use Zapier as a developer:

• Receive emails for new jobs from your favourite job board.
• Auto-reply to Slack messages and mentions.
• Turn emails into Trello task cards.
• Streamline your recruitment process.

Pricing 💵

Zapier has a free tier and four other paid tiers highlighted below.

• Started: $19.99 a month (paid annually) or $29.99 a month (paid monthly)
• Professional: $49 a month (paid annually) or $73.50 a month (paid monthly)
• Team: $299 a month (paid annually) or $448.50 a month (paid monthly)
• Company: $599 a month (paid annually) or $898.50 a month (paid monthly)

Shopify

Want to start an e-commerce business? You should check out Shopify.

Why, you may ask?

The truth is, Shopify helps you bring your business online by enabling you to create e-commerce websites backed by powerful tools that help you find customers, drive sales, and manage your day-to-day.

I like Shopify because it doesn't restrict you to selling only online products like most platforms. You can sell everywhere – in person with Point of Sale and online through your website, social media, and online marketplaces.

Here a couple of ways you can use Shopify as a developer:

• Create an e-commerce website for your clients or employer
• Learn about Shopify and become a Shopify developer (They get paid a good amount of money).
• Sell e-books, T-shirts, and more for people in the developer community.

Pricing 💵

• Basic Shopify: $29 monthly
• Shopify: $79 monthly
• Advanced Shopify: $299 monthly

Cardd

Whether it's a personal profile, a landing page to capture emails, or something a bit more elaborate, Cardd has you covered.

Guess what? You can publish these sites to any custom domains you own with full SSL support.

With Cardd, you can:

• Create a simple, free, fully responsive one-page site for pretty much anything.
• Build and publish more than three sites from a single Carrd account.
• Embed your custom widgets from third-party services.

Pricing 💵

Carrd has a free tier and three other paid tiers listed below:

• Pro Lite: $9 annually
• Pro Standard: $19 annually
• Pro Plus: $49 annually

Airtable

Airtable is a cloud collaboration service with the features of a database and a spreadsheet formatted in a way that lets you always know what’s going on.

The fields in an Airtable table are similar to cells in a spreadsheet but have types such as checkbox, phone number, drop-down list, images, and more.

Users can create a database, set up column types, add records, collaborate, sort records, and even publish views to external websites.

Whether you need to organize a calendar of project deliverables, compile a customer list, or organize any other type of information, Airtable makes it easy to create and collaborate.

Here a couple of ways you can use Airtable as a developer:

• Airtable lets you build spreadsheets. So, you can leverage each spreadsheet as a database.
• Create views designed for different use cases.
• Connect your workflow to hundreds of apps and services, or access your content programmatically.

Pricing 💵

Airtable has a free tier and three other paid tiers shared below:

• Plus: $10 a month (paid annually) or $24 a month (paid monthly)
• Pro: $20 a month (paid annually) or $50 a month (paid monthly)
• Enterprise: You have to contact the sales team to get this information

IFTTT

With IFTTT, you can connect your apps and devices in new and remarkable ways you didn't think were possible. It enables you to build a more connected world that works for you.

One integration with their API protocol connects your product to hundreds of apps, devices, and brands. They also have a fantastic documentation for developers. You should check it out.

Here a couple of ways you can use IFTTT as a developer:

• You’ll be able to gain insights into how people connect and use your products so you can further personalize their experiences.
• Build and publish applets for others to use.
• Find brands that complement yours.

Pricing 💵

IFTTT has a free tier and four more paid tiers highlighted below:

• Pro: $3.99 monthly
• Developer: $199 annually
• Team: You have to contact the sales team to get this information
• Enterprise: You have to contact the sales team to get this information

Conclusion

In an age where the demand for software far exceeds the supply of coders, no-code development tools are helping people design and build products and websites quickly.

The best time to jump on to the no-code train is now. No-code is the future. If you become an expert now, you will be one of the most in-demand people in the future. - Arun Saigal, Cofounder and CEO Thunkable.

The quote above summarises my thoughts about no-code tools and why you should start using them now.

That's all, folks! I hope this was helpful. If yes, follow me on Twitter to access more content like this.

You may hear the terms "No Code" and "Low Code" thrown around by developers and entrepreneurs.

There's a lot of ambiguity as to what these terms even mean. To add to the confusion...

Hacker Noon wants you to ponder The Low-Code vs No-Code Platform Dilemma.

Betty Blocks has scientifically determined that No-Code is at LEAST 4 times faster than Low-Code:

G2 is keen on telling us how No Code and Low Code differ in the RAD world. That’s “Rapid Application Development”, for those who are clearly not RAD enough to know.

Kissflow (a “No Code” platform) isn’t exactly calling Time of Death, but you should know that Low-Code Isn’t Dead Yet, But It’s Not Looking Good.

In the other corner, Mendix (a “Low Code” platform) warns you that the issues with most no-code tools are that they often don’t scale well and integration capabilities are very limited.

Finally, Wavemaker throws its hands up and just asks the straightforward question: No-code vs. Low-code – Is there a difference?

Whenever I see a question headline, I think of Betteridge’s law: Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word “No". As predicted, Wavemaker takes another 863 words or 5,601 characters to conclude: “no-code platforms are no different from low-code platforms.”

Stop it. Just stop. How is any of this petty squabbling a good use of time? Do you, the reader, feel any wiser reading all this?

To be sure, there are plenty of people with financial incentive to gate-keep “No Code” vs “Low Code” to prop their side up while putting the other down. As are the “arms dealers” who happily feed the flames of both.

“No Code” Tools Let You Code

Look at how common it is to add code to “No Code” tools.

Webflow is the champion of the current generation of No Code hype and organizer of No Code Conf. Even they encourage you to add code snippets for doing everything from styling the scrollbar to updating copyright information.

But it’s not just for small things. The most popular integrations require adding code snippets. If you want to add a Members-only section to your site (for example, to make money off subscriptions, a pretty important use-case), you’ll have to insert Memberful or Memberspace or Memberstack’s code. The more integrations you add, the more you’ll be coding.

There’s Betty Blocks, the “No Code” tool that you’ll recall is convinced No Code is at least 4 times faster than Low Code. Here’s their CEO talking about Using Traditional Coding in Betty Blocks’ No-Code Platform. Here’s their webinar teaching you about foreign keys to set up SQL-like relational database schemas in Betty Blocks. At what point are you really just coding with a fancy IDE?

Does it seem counter intuitive that most “No Code” platforms offer “escape hatches” to do coding? This is just pragmatism at play. Users suffer when platforms don’t let them do the things they need to do, and code is the ultimate malleable interface between the platform and the outside world.

“Low Code” Tools Don’t Require Code

Look at how much you can do in “Low Code” tools without coding.

Zoho Creator calls itself “a low-code platform.” Yet you can run through all 6 videos of it’s How-To series creating, customizing, and sharing your app from scratch without writing a single line of code.

Appian is well known as the first publicly listed “Low-Code Automation Platform.” But when you watch its “Become an Appian Expert Fast” tutorial, you realize the entire 43 minute video doesn't involve writing a single line of code.

Does it seem counter intuitive that “Low Code” platforms don’t require code, but don’t market themselves as “No Code?”

You can listen to John Rymer, half of the Forrester Analyst duo that coined the term “Low Code.” According to him, they market-tested the phrase “No Code,” but “Low Code” simply appealed better with enterprise customers. So "Low Code" it was.

We’re On The Same Side

In general, you’ll find that the “No Code” vs “Low Code” branding mostly differs by vintage:

• Older companies (Appian, Zoho Creator, and others I surveyed were created before 2010) proudly wear the “Low Code” label today.
• Newer ones (Webflow, Betty Blocks, and others are post 2010) consider themselves “No Code” to differentiate.
• Then there are the snowflakes that don’t pick a side. Parabola just wants you to “hand off your routine data tasks by describing them”. Airtable is “part spreadsheet, part database.” Zapier lets you “connect your apps and automate workflows.” All these companies regularly get lumped into this space but try to be above it all.

The truth is all these companies are on the same side – enabling every business user to create practical applications faster and cheaper.

There’s even debate about what to call this kind of user – Citizen Developer? Visual Developer? Power User? NoCoder? - to differentiate them from the traditional developer.

But the world doesn’t split neatly into developer vs. non-developer, technical vs. non-technical.

You could be a nontechnical business owner. You’re not too great with "the computers." But you recognize that work can be cheaper, faster, more reliable and collaborative when done through software.

You could be a technical user. You don't code – but you are the sort who keeps up on the latest iPhone and Android specs. You have a strong opinion on the best productivity apps. You still recognize that there are unserved gaps in the available apps out there. If only you could make an app, you could serve your own need (and that of coworkers and perhaps many others).

You could even be a regular developer, tired of the traditional, buggy, slow way of doing things. You recognize the value of a fast MVP. Your time is best spent taking advantage of commodity UIs, APIs, and workflows. And your dev time is best reserved for the “last mile” of what isn’t yet available.

Regardless of your technical aspect, No Code and Low Code platforms are there to serve you all. They should be evaluated based on their ability to serve your needs, not on the amount of code they may or may not require.

This is not a Moment, It’s a Movement

There won’t be one big winner in all this. Every domain, every industry, every level of the stack is up for a No Code/Low Code transformation. This is a general movement to bring Human-Computer Interaction into the 21st century.

The problems that can be solved with software aren’t bounded by the ~150,000 bootcamp and computer science graduates per year in the US, or the ~30 million developers worldwide (0.4% of the global population).

The bar to beat is spreadsheets. The vast majority of humanity (numbering in the billions) is already very productive with Excel and Google Sheets. How can you do better than a spreadsheet?

You can make data entry and lookup more ergonomic on a mobile phone, our primary computing device. You can automate other processes on data ingress and egress (firing off an email, or sending a text, or scheduling upload processing in the background). You can design better guardrails around error handling, team permissions, and user generated content like photos and videos.

The key is to start with a clear idea of your needs, and work backwards. The buffet of No Code and Low Code platforms are out there for you.

My advice: Stop sweating the semantics. Start creating.