CMPS 121 Mobile Applications Winter 2016

Time and location: TuTh 10-11:45, Classroom Unit 001 (map)
Instructor: Luca de Alfaro
- Email: luca@ucsc.edu.
Office hours: Tuesdays, 1-2, Engineering 2, Rm 339A
TA: Rakshit Agrawal
Email: ragrawa1@ucsc.edu
- Office hours: TBA
Review Session: Tuesdays 6-7:10pm, Kresge 327

Discussion group: Piazza. Please use Piazza for all general class questions, reserving email for personal communications.

Announcements

If you need a permission code, please request one using this form (you need to be logged in via your @ucsc.edu account to access the forms).

You can mostly look at last year's home page for the course content.
You will need an Android device running Android 4.0.0 or later for this class.

Grading

The class grading is 50% homework, and 50% class project.

There will be 4 or 5 homework assignments.

Homework Assignments

Homework 1, due Thursday January 21, 11pm
Homework 2, due Wednesday February 3, 11pm
Homework 3, due Wednesday February 19, 11pm
Homework 4, optional, due Tuesday March 8, 11pm

Homework procedures

Lectures

Lecture 1: Introduction to the class
Lecture 2: Structure of an app, building a first simple app
Lecture 3: Designing the layout of an app, drawables, connecting behavior.
Lecture 4: Getting the location.
Lecture 5: Switching between activities, and passing data.
Lecture 6: Spinner and ListView.
Lecture 7: Starting activities for return values, Json, and HTTP calls.
Lecture 8: Android-Cloud interaction.
Lecture 9: Views and animation.
Lecture 10: More on views and animation; animating a compass.
Lecture 11: Threads and message passing.
Lecture 13: Services.
Lecture 14: Sensors.
Lecture 15: Maps and WebViews
Lecture 17: Hosting on GAE and login via the cloud.

Project

Project requirements:

1-4 collaborators
Written in native Android (no frameworks like Unity or Apache Cordova)
Can include server-based portion, but the mobile portion should be key / substantial

Steps to do the project:

Submit a project proposal (the form will be made available later).
Work on the project.
Present the project in the last class or on final's day.
Submit the project code.

Class Information

Android device

You will need an Android device for this class. A cellular plan is not required: a wifi-only device is perfect. A device running Android 4+ is recommended. In general, you will be much happier with a device that runs a clean Google build, such as this. These devices in general have more predictable behavior, more extensive logging and diagnostic messages, and more support. Nevertheless, most Android devices work. The problem is that some devices have quirks, due to how Android has been built for them: some phones have limited diagnostic logging, others have peculiar threading limits, and so on and so forth.

Development software

We will develop using Android Studio. You need to have a laptop or PC where you can install Android Studio.

Course Resources

These resources will be updated during the class.

Android Developers Dev Guide.
Android Studio.
Developer Resources, including tutorials and sample code.

Syllabus

The class consists in a hands-on introduction to Android application development. Topics include:

Introduction to the class, and to creating mobile applications.
Basic structure of Android applications.
How to avoid writing an Android application: Apache Cordova (aka Phone Gap)
Applications and activities.
Activities life-cycle and threads of control.
User interface elements: views, layouts, buttons, widgets.

Preferences, saving state.
- How to almost avoid writing an Android application: Webviews.
- Sharing state across activities.
- Using the internet, and background asynchronous processing.
File access.
Communication with cloud servers. User authentication, login, data communication.
- Developing web + mobile applications.
- Using cloud APIs.
- Services and working in the background.
- Audio, video, camera, sensors.

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