Dittofi Essentials

The Dittofi Essentials give you a "top down" introduction to essential concepts in Dittofi. In this tutorial we cover what is Dittofi and why you might want to use it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN DITTOFI ESSENTIALS

• What is Dittofi and why you might want to use it

• Key Dittofi terms and concepts

• How data flows around a Dittofi App

Introduction

Welcome to the Dittofi Essentials tutorial! This tutorial will introduce you to Dittofi and teach you how to use it the right way, using our latest features and best practices. By the time you finish, you should be able to start building your own Dittofi applications using the tools and patterns you've learned here.

In Part 1, 2 and 3 of this tutorial, we'll cover the key concepts and terms you need to know to use Dittofi's frontend builder, Dittofi's backend builder and to connect frontend and backend. Then, in Part 4: Dittofi App Structure, we will use the concepts learnt in Parts 1 - 3 to examine a basic Dittofi app to see how all of the pieces fit together.

Starting in Part 5: Dittofi Data Flow, we'll use what we have learnt in parts 1 - 4 to build a small social media feed app with some real-world features, to see how those pieces actually work in practice, and talk about some important patterns and guidelines for using Dittofi.

How to Read This Tutorial​

This page will focus on showing you how to use Dittofi the right way, and explain just enough of the concepts so that you can understand how to build Dittofi apps correctly.

PREREQUISITES

There are no prerequisites required to read Dittofi Essentials, however we do recommend that, if you've not already done so, you

1. Create a Dittofi account @ https://dittofi.com/website/login/

2. Create and app and complete the initial product tour of the Dittofi Page Builder

3. Read our Quick Start tutorial

Before we continue, let's have a look at what is Dittofi and why you might want to use it.

What is Dittofi?

It helps to understand what this "Dittofi" thing is in the first place. What does it do? What problems does it help me solve? Why would I want to use it?

Dittofi is three things

1. Dittofi is a no-code tool

No-code platforms enable non-technical users to build software applications visually by dragging and dropping components to create a powerful apps 80% faster than writing code by hand. Users don't need any previous coding experience to build applications using no-code.

2. Dittofi is a code generator

Real software applications are built using computer code. Unlike other no-code platforms, Dittofi utilizes a technology known as code generation. Dittofi uses this technology to convert your visual no-code designs into real, human readable, high quality and scalable computer code which can be exported and owned.

3. Dittofi is a full stack app builder with hosting

The frontend of your app is the bit that your users see. The backend is the bit that users don't see e.g. the application server, third party API integrations and a database. Dittofi lets you build both the frontend and backend of your software apps.

Dittofi also comes with a hosting model that lets you deploy your apps in a single click into a live environment powered by Amazon Web Services - the same technology that powers apps like Netflix, Pintrest, Facebook etc.

How Dittofi works: Build enterprise grade apps visually, generate real computer code that you can deploy and ow

Next up

You will learn key terms and concepts required to use Dittofi's Frontend Builder.