Low Code Development and Oracle APEX

Low code development is in fashion, and there's many offerings in the market that allow the power of low code development to be unlocked by the enterprise. The allure of low code is the time to market, where solutions, particularly web apps, can be quickly created by following a wizard, and can really be done by non-developers or "citizen" developers. Due to its benefits, many companies have adopted a low code strategy to supplement their existing software engineering offerings, where possible, specially where subject matter experts in the business could leverage low code in a self-service capacity, if the requirements aren't too complex.

Oracle APEX is available at no extra cost with your Oracle database, additionally, if you have an Autonomous database (in OCI), APEX (and ORDS - Oracle Rest Data services), already comes available and enabled in the autonomous databases. This allows you to create applications very quickly on top of the data you already have in your database, minimizing data movement, simplifying security and support, and more. For more information regarding APEX, and to try it for free, you can visit https://apex.oracle.com/en/.

I have observed where companies, who already own Oracle Database licenses and have a large footprint in the space, bypass Oracle APEX and jump on paid low code offerings from other vendors, and whereas this post will not focus heavily on what Oracle APEX is, because it's very well documented as it has been around for over 20 years already, there's definitely content that those trying to jump on APEX or even experienced users may not be aware of, and will be shared here.

The APEX Product Managers are Jayson Hanes and Monica Godoy, you can find them on LinkedIn and follow them for news, etc.

Below you will find information about the APEX Roadmap, training, events, and more:

1. APEX 23.1 is out, the feature set can be viewed at https://apex.oracle.com/en/platform/features/whats-new-231/.
2. Past Roadmap and Upcoming Road (see Appendix A)
3. Training and Certifications (see Appendix B)
4. Events calendar for APEX: https://apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/r/grand_prix/apex-events/events?session=6298691857842
5. APEX Office Hours with Oracle (see Appendix C)
6. APEX Idea Lab (Different from the Cloud Customer Connect Idea Lab) (see Appendix D)
7. Cost model in OCI (see Appendix E)

Appendix A (Roadmaps)

Past Roadmap:

Upcoming Roadmap (Post 23.1):

Appendix B (Training)

You can try APEX for free at: https://apex.oracle.com/en/

There’s also professional training available, as seen below.

Appendix C (Office Hours)

Appendix D (Ideas)

Appendix E (OCI Cost)

If you own Oracle Databases and want a low code solution that uses data from your Oracle databases primarily (although APEX can connect to other sources via API's and "DB Links"), then APEX is truly your best bet, among all the low code solutions.