When BigBasket evaluated various ERPs to streamline procurement, they chose a custom solution built with low-code application development platform Zoho Creator. Central to this was Zoho's proprietary scripting language, Deluge, which empowered a largely non-technical team to develop the custom ERP that now centralizes their Capex processes effectively.
Deluge (Data Enriched Language for the Universal Grid Environment), co-architected by Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu and his team in 2005, is a low-code scripting language and platform designed to extend and customize Zoho applications. It has grown substantially, with over 4 million developers using it internally, executing 25 billion scripts annually, and being relied upon by over 95% of Zoho’s enterprise customers.
In celebration of Deluge’s 20th year, Zoho is preparing to make the language open source, thereby making it accessible to a broader audience beyond Zoho customers. According to Hyther Nizam, VP of Products at Zoho, the open sourcing effort involves making Deluge easier to consume and removing proprietary elements to foster wider enterprise adoption through natural language prompts and low-code application design.
Deluge was created to address inefficiencies in application development, particularly around the repetitive boilerplate code that consumes much developer time. Zoho envisioned a programming language that directly empowers users to interact with data and build applications without multiple layers of intermediaries.
Adding to its evolution, Zoho is integrating an AI layer into Deluge which will enable developers and non-developers to generate Deluge code by simply using natural language prompts. This AI enhancement is expected to dramatically increase productivity – from 10x to potentially 100x – in developing complex applications.
Moreover, Zoho is collaborating with government and private educational institutions to include Deluge in their courses and skill development programs, further propagating its use as a foundational low-code language. The language is considered unique due to its inherent respect for data structures and permissions, making it challenging to replicate by competing low-code platforms.
This strategic push reiterates Zoho’s philosophy of owning and managing its entire technology stack, enabling them to innovate in cloud products and beyond with greater control and customization.
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