APICloud has been working hard for six years to build a low-code development platform with persistence and innovation

[51CTO.com original article] The rapid development of low-code development platforms and the rush of giants and newcomers is fundamentally due to the fact that they can effectively avoid many uncertainties in software development by virtue of their advantages in development threshold, talent, cost, etc., and ultimately achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Since its establishment in 2014, APICloud has insisted on iterating mobile application development platforms while daring to innovate and build low-code development platforms, contributing to the acceleration of digital transformation for enterprises.

Adhere to the exploration of business models

Recently, APICloud held a new product release & ecosystem developer conference, where many new products were released, including MADP, PaaS, DevOps, Marketplace and other product lines, throughout the entire development process. For front-end developers, APICloud has iterated the fully translated cross-platform app engine Deep Engine 3.0, the front-end development framework AVM compatible with Vue / React syntax features, the unified compilation environment that supports multiple terminals, and the development tool APICloud Studio 3.0 that is deeply customized based on VSCode. In the back-end service, Data Cloud 3.0 based on k8s technology has been newly released;

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Zou Da, Co-founder and CEO of APICloud

During the meeting, APICloud co-founder and CEO Zou Da accepted an exclusive interview with 51CTO, and the entire interview revolved around the business model and platform evolution. Looking back at the development history of APICloud:

• Use a modular approach to aggregate various APIs and products from major cloud companies to build a tool platform and release a multi-tool strategy.
• We launched a software crowdsourcing model, built a mobile development platform, and linked together the different needs of enterprise application development. By leveraging our advantages in developers, tools, and systems, we began to realize revenue and earned considerable income.
• Based on the continuous integration of cloud native, DevOps, hybrid development and other capabilities, it has completed the evolution from mobile development to a low-code development platform, and formed a solid ecological barrier and advanced agile development capabilities.

Therefore, the reason why these new front-end and back-end technology products can be successfully launched today is the result of six years of continuous exploration and comprehensive promotion of iterative innovation in technology and business models.

Combining our strengths to innovate

APICloud combines its own strengths of rapid delivery to successfully build a low-code development platform to meet the IT needs of various business departments, optimize labor efficiency and reduce costs.

Among the many new products released this time, the most noteworthy is the DeepEngine3.0 engine, which is completely based on native architecture rendering and supports both [hybrid development] and [intermediate language compilation] modes. It follows the full translation principle and compiles Javascript into Native API, providing completely native performance, breaking through previous technical bottlenecks and suitable for most fields.

In the context of multiple terminals, due to the personalization of mobile applications and the application scenarios that go deep into the lower layers, there is a lack of effective reuse mechanisms between different terminals. At present, 60% of the coding in many applications is still repetitive work. The AVM cross-terminal framework is based on the standard Web Components componentization concept, compatible with Vue/React syntax features, supports one-time coding and compiling to multiple terminals such as Android/iOS APP, H5, and WeChat applets, and supports single-file mode and single-language fragment mode for writing code; at the same time, APICloud has also launched a multi-terminal compilation environment, which fully supports the use of Html5-like technology to achieve multi-terminal development. There is no need to build a specific terminal compilation environment. One-click cloud compilation can generate high-quality target terminal code, which has high availability and is conducive to secondary development.

Front-end developers on the user side need to spend a lot of time on application interface typeset, and the time increases exponentially in a multi-terminal environment. APICloud Studio3.0 is deeply customized based on VSCode and supports running on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. The entire life cycle of development work can be completed in one tool, such as project management, code writing, debugging, preview, code management, compilation and release, etc.

For backend cloud service development, APICloud Data Cloud 3.0's cloud database supports transactions. Developers can add, delete, modify, and query data tables in a visual way. At the same time, it is easier to operate the database in the code through built-in rich API functions. The interface management has built-in components that comply with the swagger specification. Developers can directly generate documents from the code and perform interface joint debugging; through the model-driven development model, code reuse is convenient; at the same time, the application's data storage, file storage, traffic, API requests, etc. are monitored, and corresponding line charts are generated, allowing users to more intuitively understand the use of the service. APICloud's new iteration of Data Cloud 3.0 provides developers with a more flexible, fast, and stable server-side development experience by adding custom functions, model libraries, and other functions combined with underlying container technology.

Healthy ecological closed loop is the key

The construction of APICloud developer ecosystem has always been an important cornerstone for the development of the platform. Zou Da said that the four core elements in the development of APICloud ecosystem are developers, service providers, applications and platform customers. Based on the data of ecosystem operations, APICloud has been widely used by 1 million registered developers to date, with an average of more than 7,000 code submissions per day and more than 6,000 installation packages generated per day. These data prove the effectiveness and stability of the platform technology.

Low-code development is the core content of this APICloud Ecosystem Developer Conference. APICloud has given an answer to the business logic of low-code with practice. As Zou Da said, first of all, the platform cannot restrict customer needs, but should provide more open product capabilities and have a large number of developers to support it. In the ToB business, only the ability to develop high-quality applications, provide customized services to customers, and emphasize customer experience are important factors in verifying the effectiveness of low-code business value and forming a closed loop of low-code development ecology.

In conclusion:

As the interview was drawing to a close, Zou Da said: "Providing developers with the best platform products, providing developers with the best developer services, and designing business models around developers to ultimately form a win-win ecosystem is the original intention of APICloud. The original intention has never changed. Even in a business environment like China, companies have to constantly deal with many issues such as survival, development, income, and growth during their development. But I believe that APICloud will always persist no matter what opportunities or challenges it encounters. Of course, the original intention alone is not enough. It is also necessary to continue to grow, accumulate strength, and ensure uninterrupted research and development of new products so that APICloud's platform products and ecology can move forward at full speed.

[51CTO original article, please indicate the original author and source as 51CTO.com when reprinting on partner sites]