Why is DATAFLEX created? At the time Dataflex was created - in the 80ties - a lot of alternatives were available to create software applications and this is still the case. Think about C, Cobol, C#, java, javascript, angularJS and Htmlx. De list is endless. The problem was - back then - that all were 'island' solutions with specific targets for every operating system. There was nothing available for the business market. DATAFLEX delivered a solution - far ahead of its time -  that still has a nice fit with current requirements. The virtual runtime environment. Far into the twentyfirst century. 

Productivity en compleetness of development. No collection of development elements - as seen with the open source environments - but a comprehensive set of tools in a cohesive IDE that enables software developers to build business applications at break neck speed. Because of the good cooperation between the different stages of the development process the complexity can be greatly reduced in such a way the large complex applications can be handled by a relative small team. The complete 'life-cycle' of the application will be optimised and a lot more efficient than other development environments. Subsequently maintenance cost will reduced also. Bonus: DATAFLEX developers all over the world can read and understand each others code!  

DATAFLEX is what the industry calls a 'Low-code development environment' or as DATAFLEX calls itself 'Lean-code development'.It can compete with the current highflyers in de low-code space: Outsystems, Mendix en Betty Blocks. These competitors are aiming for what they call 'citizens development'. Users with limited development skills that are enabled to create applications. A good direction of the market because of the huge backlog in software development at companies. Users use predetermined templates to define new applications. The applications are generated in the traditional development languages as C# and Java as a 'black box' .

And this is where the problem lies. The flexibility of the platforms is limited so currently these platforms are only used to create simple applications. To create complex applications big parts will have to be build with the traditional development languages - like C, C# and Java - on which basis these applications are generated. This is a difficult process because you need to understand 'black box' code that is generated by the supplier of the develpment environment very well. Breaking the speed of code-generation. This makes developers nervous. 

Research has revealed that acceptance of 'low-code development environments' by professional developers is marginal. The 'black box' is distrusted. Developers say that they loose control over the application. 

In which does DATAFLEX differ from other 'low-code development environments'? Why does DATAFLEX see themselves a 'lean-code development envrionment'?

Code generation is NOT part of the DATAFLEX process. The efficiency is incorporated in the software development language DATAFLEX itself. DATAFLEX only needs 2 lines of code where the traditional development languages need a 100 lines of code. On the server! No need for two types of developers. Business rules are only registered once - in code - and are used all over the application. These rules are database independent and can be applied to all database systems: Microsoft MSsql, MySql, Oracle, IBM DB2, Pervasive, Postgress and many others.

The 'Frontend and backend developer' difference is non-existent in DATAFLEX. This extra layer of complexity from AngularJS, ReactJS, Ember e.a. is removed. All development and other activities take place on the server. Webapplications rely on a generic javascript engine that is loaded once and takes care of everything that happens in the browser. The javascript engine is fired on by the server. This technique gives DATAFLEX the capability to seemlessly work together with UX-designers and tool-builders like Dhtlmx and Syncfusion. In fact any piece of Javascript code can be integrated with DATAFLEX. UX-designers will not find any restriction in combination with DATAFLEX.

Agile computing (with sprints) was already implemented in the 80ties and 90ties by DATAFLEX developers. We didn't know any beter. The result of quick development times. The tools available in the current IDE are so much better now than back than and is 100 times more efficient is not an exaggeration. Agile computing is DATAFLEX.

DATAFLEX is the ultimate tool for the professional software developer that - without productivtyloss - wants to create complex business applications. From simple e-commerce applications to 'company-wide' business critical applications for multi-nationals.