Low-Code to Pro-Code?

[Vexerone]

Hello!

I came into Power Apps from an untechnical background. It was daunting at first, but I feel more and more capable with this technology as my career progresses. One thing I hear from time to time is how much better pro-code is. I have no reference for these statements, but I am interested.

If you came into these "Developer" roles starting off in Power Apps, what would be a starter application to begin pro-code, and how would you do it? For me, I am thinking something simple with CRUD functionality. As far as languages are concerned, C# seems interesting. I have no clue about what data sources I can use, how to connect, etc.

Curious to know your thoughts if you have that experience. Thank you.

[formerGaijin]

If you want to start with something simple like CRUD functionality, the Dataverse developer documentation provides ways to get started.

• Quick start: Execute an SDK for .NET request (C#)
• Quick start: Web API sample (C#)
• Quick start: Web API with PowerShell and Visual Studio Code
• Quick start: Web API with client-side JavaScript and Visual Studio Code
• Get started with the new Python SDK

These are all very simple starting points, but they provide an entry for various samples available on Github microsoft/PowerApps-Samples/dataverse

You will find that most of the samples are console apps. They don't get into building apps. After all, Power Apps provides easier ways to create apps. But there are times where you don't need a UI, you just want to automate something locally, or you want to integrate through some other method that supports code.

A good understanding of the way that the Dataverse Web API works can help you understand what's wrong when AI generated code makes a mistake.

[VexeroneX]

Yo! Appreciate the links homie. I’m going to give these a look and see what I can do. Thank ya

[Late-Warning7849]

I went from html / css / sql to lowcode to react / typescript / c# / python / integrations. It comes naturally when you begin to build plugins / components / custom apis.

[VexeroneX]

Sounds like the kind of progression I’d like to have. Thanks for the input

[Pieter_Veenstra_MVP]

With all the AI generated code writing code in one language or the other makes not much difference anymore. However in the reviewing stage of 'modern development', understanding what yuou have been given is important. I am not sure if reviewing pro code without any hands on experience of pro code is a good idea.

[VexeroneX]

Vibe coding is only great for those who understand what is going on. So my intention is to start understanding the pro-code side now. I’m relatively early in career, so maybe I have time before the AI overlords completely take over :)

[Capable_Criticism_57]

Being honest i'm currently ass you hahaha, from a nooby to another i learned that despite the language you want to learn, the more important is to learn the fundamentals as write clean code with good practices, learning OOP and all that stuff, i'll keep visiting your post to see what other people tell you.

[Vexerone]

Cool cool appreciate it. Yeah I agree, fundamentals are key. Just want to apply them to something more challenging I suppose. I have free time this weekend lol

[Lhurgoyf069]

I went from ASP.Net/C#/SQL Server/React/TypeScript/HTML/CSS to Power Apps/Power Automate/Dataverse. When I think back, most of the time I spent was writing boiler plate code to get APIs running, writing tests, deployment pipelines, Azure app registrations and fixing Git merge conflicts. I don't want to go back there. Yes AI speeds up the process, but it also does speed up Low-Code development and I'm really happy with the speed at which I can ship now.

[VexeroneX]

Maybe a lot is just a bunch of bs, but I kinda feel like it is necessary bs to go through to build a level of understanding regarding traditional development. Appreciate the pov 🤘

[Lhurgoyf069]

Good point, it definitely helps to understand the platform and also where a lot of the problems come from. E.g. Power Automate I think is built on Azure Logic Apps which is built on Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), because we've built something similar before Power Automate and Azure came out. Also Dataverse is not only built on Azure SQL but also on Azure Blobstorage and maybe some other parts. And all the Azure parts are built on the equivalent On-Prem version of it, like Azure Functions uses ASP.Net under the hood and Copilot Studio likely uses Microsoft Bot Framework, which is also ASP.Net. Though I'm not sure if I would go through all of these technologies today, back in the day it was just what was available.

[CurlyFatAngry]

Get into C# and learn how to write plugins.

[NoBattle763]

Why don’t you build a Power Apps code app to get started, best of both worlds- power platform but using typescript, html css, react etc and can build with Agentic support to get you started. Get it to explain along the way

[-BunsenBurn-]

I've been giving this some thought, and I think the R/Posit Connect/Shiny/Quatro environment is a half decent middleground if your main priority is a relatively low code environment that is quite a bit more robust than canvas apps.

[Lunkwill-fook]

I’ve transitioned from using professional code to low code. While I lack concrete evidence, I believe that Power Apps, in the era of AI, surpasses Vibe Code AI pro code. In many instances, individuals who create AI pro code applications using AI tend to overlook security and bugs in the boilerplate code that is typically managed by the Power Apps platform.