Many people consider the low-code approach to be the future of software development. For Oradian, it’s already the present: we use it to rapidly deploy new features to all Oradian customers with little effort and minimal development time.
But what is the low-code approach, and how does it work for Oradian and our customers?
DSL – keeping it simple.
Typically, software development requires a lot of ‘boilerplate code’ – sections of code that are repeated in multiple places with little to no variation, used to perform basic functions. In verbose programming languages this requires a lot of time-consuming work.
To reduce the amount of time spent on what many programmers simply regard as menial busy work, they can adopt a low-code approach based on a custom programming language that does all the boilerplate for them.
Oradian uses a custom domain-specific language (DSL) created by one of our own developers.
This language is built according to domain-driven design. That means it is designed to match the ‘business domain’, the area of business targeted by the software – in our case a core banking and loan management software – based on the workflows and inputs required by that business area, or the ‘domain logic’.
Speaking the same language.
Using a DSL means that anyone who has knowledge of the domain can create a model in that custom language.
That’s because it can be used to generate all the boilerplate coding for the front-end, back-end, and database – all the developers need to do is add the logic underneath. This makes coding extremely fast, significantly reducing the work required to perform basic tasks.
At the core of all this is a compiler. This tool takes Oradian’s custom language and automatically translates it to the other programming languages developers (and other companies) use for the front-end, back-end, and the database. Using a compiler speeds up coding and reduces the menial work of translating code into different languages.
All this makes it easy to communicate between different stakeholders, because everything is written in the same code with the same domain logic. Everyone can use the same terminology for the database, back-end, and front-end of the product.
The model can also be used to create documentation. Anyone from the company can encode knowledge on top of the model using the information from specific documentation. In this way, it is not just the developers benefiting from the low-code approach, but the whole company.
Rapid reactions.
Low-code programming is an agile, flexible approach to software development. By using tools like a compiler in conjunction with a low-code programming language, Oradian can quickly develop new features and deploy them rapidly to all customers with relatively little effort.
This low-code approach is the reason Oradian can respond swiftly to incidents and service requests. For instance, when Typhoon Odette hit the Philippines in 2021, Oradian’s system was able to quickly restore ATM and other vital services – before any other core banking provider in the region.
This also helped Oradian respond to customer demands during the COVID-19 pandemic, when financial institutions suddenly needed to deliver vital financial services to their clients totally remotely.
But one of the biggest impacts is on maintenance. While other solutions may also make coding more rapid, the low-code approach significantly reduces the cost of maintenance. Since the custom programming language ensures the code is correct (because the boilerplate is written automatically), changes, updates and corrections can be effortlessly spread throughout the code.
One of the main arguments against the low-code approach is that it only truly works when the workflow fits its intended use case. It’s fine, opponents say, for building an initial version of a product, but simply cannot manage customisation or scaling.
Oradian’s approach is different, and specifically designed to go far beyond the capabilities of other low-code approaches. Our method has no problem with scaling – our terabyte-sized databases are proof of that!
Discover a low-code future
To better understand why a DSL, low-code core banking system can help you speed up your product development and enable you to move into new markets and reach more customers quickly, speak to one of our technical core banking experts today.
