Low-AI-Code Development

Low-code platforms like Oracle APEX have a clear advantage in the AI era, as the LLM generates the metadata for the app out of your functional specification, not the actual code itself. As the low-code platform vendor is in charge of the underlying code, you can rely on it to be maintainable , more secure and legally bulletproof . Let's go through these in more detail. Maintainable Vibe coding quickly leads to a code mess as the LLM doesn't really optimize the code, it just implements your request. On code level, an identical function might be implemented multiple times by the LLM. A low-code platform returns HTML/JS/CSS to the web browser out of the metadata in runtime based on optimized, proven internal code. This means that your app is always state-of-the-art when upgrading the low-code platform and should bugs arise, they are the responsibility of the vendor to solve, not the developer. More Secure Many security features in Oracle APEX are turned on or are restrictively se...

I have been vibe coding in my spare time lately and managed to create and publish an iOS app called SnoreBuzzer  within 2(!) days. Do I have knowledge of the underlying Swift programming language? Zero. I created the app solely by prompting and focusing on the functional specification. OpenAI Codex did the heavy lifting: code generation, improving code quality, and documentation (incl. generating a data privacy statement). I specified my intent and tested the outcome. As a developer, I still kept an eye on the code to make sure it did not end up in a mess, so understanding the code is still required, but you definitely do not need to write it yourself anymore. As I let Codex make changes to my code, I regularly checked in to Git so I could easily revert changes if Codex messed things up, but that happened for only 5% of my prompts. Now to the big picture of this: a new age for developers is rising. In a couple of years, every developer will be using prompts for most of his developm...

  The 3-day conference schedule for APEX connect 2026 is now online  and it is packed with content for APEX & PL/SQL developers: 3 keynotes delivered by Carsten Czarski , Connor McDonald and Karen Cannell 70 regular 45 minute sessions  covering all topics around APEX, (PL/)SQL and its solutions 1:1 sessions with experts and several hands-on workshops To take you through all new exciting features of Oracle APEX 26.1 and Database 26ai , a lot of the key architects and product managers from around the globe are coming to APEX connect: - Carsten Czarski - Patrick Wolf - Ronny Weiß - Scott Spendolini - Connor McDonald - Ralf Müller - Sonja Meyer - Toon Koppelaars They will be accompanied with excellent presenters from the community, most of them having an Oracle ACE status. To name just a few: - Alex Nuijten - Karen Cannell - Moritz Klein - Patrick Barel - Philipp Hartenfeller - Philipp Salvisberg - Roel Hartman The magic happens 18-20 May in Heide Park (Soltau/Germa...

The software development lifecycle (SDLC) with Oracle APEX can take many forms. This blog post will give you an overview of four common scenarios. If you are interested to learn the details, I recommend reading the following paper from the APEX team: https://apex.oracle.com/go/lifecycle-technical-paper Author Steve Muench, Version 3.2, June 2025 1. Single environment, single developer In a situation where a single developer works directly against the production environment, the lifecycle couldn’t be simpler. In this scenario, you typically would create a working copy of the app in APEX, make changes, test and merge changes automatically back into the main app. You should regularly backup your app and the database in case you need to restore. This lifecycle is best suited for citizen developers and IT developers creating small and simple non-critical apps used by a few users. 2. Multiple environments, single developer When you’re working alone on different environments like developm...

Lately, I stumbled upon this thread on Reddit:  https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/18uj3id/why_im_skeptical_of_lowcode/ There are so many misunderstandings of "low-code" in this thread, that I tried to comment it, but it seems like this isn’t appreciated by the moderator. Maybe because there is a link in it, maybe because I am mentioning a product, I don’t know and I don’t have the time to “battle” the policy of Reddit, so I decided to post my thoughts in this blog post instead.  Being a professional low-code programmer, I use Oracle APEX and LLMs to speed up my development process. Does this mean that everything can be done using out-of-the-box components? Of course not. The last 20% is done by using traditional programming languages, but if you look at the total time required, it is dramatically reduced. When working with metadata (the 80% that makes up a low-code app) and not on a programmatic level, you gain several advantages. One is that the underlying techno...

Oracle APEX 24.2 is out! Here are some of the major features in APEX 24.2 that I think are a great productivity booster for APEX developers. JSON Sources With storing JSON in a CLOB or BLOB column, you get some flexibility in your data model. Before 24.2, you couldn't let your APEX chart, form or report interact with the JSON structure without custom coding. With 24.2, this is now possible using JSON Sources. There is no need anymore to deal with JSON yourself using SQL, just let APEX do the heavy lifting. For those of you using 23ai of the Oracle Database, it works even with JSON Collection Tables and Duality Views! APEX Workflow enhancements Major features here include the possibility to call a workflow from with another workflow. This will let you re-use smaller workflow definitions. Also, a workflow administrator can now resume a workflow at any given activity in case of an unforeseen situation. Great must have features! For those of you that need to be BPMN-compliant, you migh...

Flows for APEX 24.1 is now available for download at  https://flowsforapex.org . Minimum requirements for installation are Oracle DB 19c+ and Oracle APEX 22.1+. For a quick start, I suggest to install it in a free workspace on  https://apex.oracle.com  (will take only a few minutes to install). Be aware that only the English language is installed by default. For other language versions, please go to Shared Components > Application Translations > Publish Translated Applications. Here you can select and publish the required languages. The Community Edition of Flows for APEX 24.1 has some great new features for you to check out: New User Tasktyp "Simple Form" New App "Simple Process Starter" Updated Sample App "Expense Claims" Support for storing JSON in a process variable Coloring of BPMN elements If you are new to BPMN 2.0, I recommend looking at the preinstalled tutorials in the Flows for APEX app. For those of you seeking even more features, we now ...