> For actually writing business logic, replacing code with drag and drop logic blocks is... not really helpful to anybody
It's not helpful for anybody to be able to write their own services, even if they cannot code? Everyone who can't code, would disagree with you. Sure, they can spend some free time to pickup programming, and maybe after a lot of reading and practicing, would be able to build the flow in a programming language, but why do that when you could just drag and drop logic blocks until it solves your particular problem, then move on to what you really care about?
Yeah, I mean, you're right, it is difficult to specifically know what you want the computer/server to do.
But, writing code (as text) is a lot harder for people to do, than to use graphical elements. Why I don't know, maybe it's just more daunting to get started. But people have an easier time pickup "programming" via blocks rather than text.
In my experience that's not actually true. People might be able to drop some graphical elements into place, but they can't fix bugs in their "programs".
Eventually, there's almost always a need for some edge case, some scenario not quite covered by the no-code framework, and you're back to writing code, even if it's sold as not actually coding.
I'd agree that of course "real" programming is gonna be able to cover a lot more cases than "building blocks" programming can ever cover. A bit like comparing only using libraries vs writing your own code, can get you far but will never allow you to do anything.
> and you're back to writing code
My point was more geared towards the people who can't write code. So this is not really an alternative for them. So something imperfect that kind of does what you need, in most cases, is most of the times better than nothing.
I don't think anyone is selling "no code" as a solution that works for everything and any case. But it does work for a lot, so us "real" programmers can stop implementing the same boilerplate over and over, and people who can't program, can build automated workflows for themselves, which is nice.
It's a nice dream, I'm not opposed to it in principle.
However the systems I've seen from vendors pushing (for instance) "no code" data permissions rules on top of an identity database, have quickly shown their rough edges and the need for custom building blocks backed by code (or worse, XML pretending not to be code!). Maybe it's getting better than this now.
It's not helpful for anybody to be able to write their own services, even if they cannot code? Everyone who can't code, would disagree with you. Sure, they can spend some free time to pickup programming, and maybe after a lot of reading and practicing, would be able to build the flow in a programming language, but why do that when you could just drag and drop logic blocks until it solves your particular problem, then move on to what you really care about?