Design of Mobile Applications

Synthetic program:

Aims and learning outcomes

Given the always increasing diffusion of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tables), the course aims to present the main techniques and technologies to design and implement applications for these devices. More specifically, the course will address the design of "mobile" applications by considering both the problem of designing the user experience, that is, the screens used to interact with the user, and the problem of understanding the actual distribution of the components that constitute the application and their interactions.

As for technologies, the course will present the main solutions that are available today. It will cover both iOS-based (iPhone/iPad) and Android-based applications. It will also present HTML5 as the emerging solution for the realization of cross-platform "mobile" applications.   

Syllabus

The course is roughly divided in five parts:

• The introduction will frame the problem and the new/many opportunities these devices offer. I will also give a brief survey of the different alternatives and "competing" solutions.
• The first part will be about the design of mobile applications. It will try to identify some guidelines and recurring patterns to "ease" the design of these applications and also to help obtain quality solutions.
• The third part will be about Android and about the development of applications for this operating system and for the family of devices that use it.
• The fourth part will start with a brief presentation of ObjectiveC and its main differences with respect to Java. Then, it will introduce the development of applications for iOS-based devices.
• Finally, the fifth part will introduce the main novelties and characteristics of HTML5, as the new and promising solution for the development of cross-platform applications.

Prerequisites

The course does not require particular prerequisites, except a basic knowledge of object-oriented programming  and  Java in particular.

Bibliography

The slides used during classes will be distributed before them. There will also be a set of suggested/further readings for each argument.