Mobile App Development

What the page covers

Most of the material here is Android-focused, with a good share on iOS and cross-platform tools. The mind map Android development sets out programming languages, major components, activities, layout containers, fragments and hardware constraints such as screen sizes, CPU/GPU and memory. The iOS side appears in Creating Data Driven Mobile Applications, which covers Cocoa Touch, protocols, delegation, UIKit, view controllers, segues and Core Data. The Cocoapods map lists libraries such as Realm, AFNetworking and SDWebImage.

Where to start

Begin with the broad maps on mobile programming concepts. Many students have made their own versions, so you can compare a few. Mobile Programming Concepts - Juliana Cuevas 9C opens with mobile apps, devices and mobile operating systems. Then move to Software Development for Mobile Devices, which covers the activity life cycle, intents, bundles and layouts.

1. Read a concepts map to get the vocabulary.
2. Work through the flashcards Building Blocks of Android (Definitions), which asks what an activity, intent, service, content provider and broadcast receiver are.
3. Move on to Android Fundamentals and Options for Data Storage.
4. Look at the notes Getting started with Cordova and Getting started with Ionic if you want hybrid apps.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a map first, then take a quiz such as Android UI or Mobile Computing. Wherever you lose marks, go back to the matching branch of the map and the flashcards. Repeat until the answers come easily. Decks like Activity vs Fragment and Android Intents suit short, focused sessions.

Where it sits

This unit belongs to the strand Web, Mobile, Games and Digital Media in Computing and ICT. It sits alongside other digital-media topics, but here the focus is building apps for phones and tablets.

Choose one map that matches your course, work through it, and then see what you can make for yourself.