COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM
This course aims to primarily introduce students to the world of mobile apps from the developer's perspective. Classes are fundamentally hands-on, enabling students to develop simple mobile apps, in this case, based on the Apple iOS platform (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch). For students without any programming experience, this is an excellent opportunity to explore a world which is increasingly important for our society. Just as mastering English has become key for business in the last few decades, programming, the universal language of technology, will become fundamental in the coming years.
As mentioned, the course is practical in focus. This implies that, after a brief introduction to the economic and technological concerns developers have to face when developing a new app, the course will focus on the theoretical-practical elements related to programming. Students will thus learn to use Apple's Xcode development environment as well as the device simulator it incorporates. If students wish, they can also test their app projects on any of their own iOS devices, for example, their iPhones or iPads. Thus, in addition to bringing their Macs to class(*) and the device in which they want to install their apps, they also have to bring a USB cable to connect their devices to their computer.
In terms of content, the course addresses two fundamental aspects of app development for mobile devices: (1) designing the graphic interface and (2) programming code. In addition, the different class sessions will address other related topics: playing audio/video in apps, uploading web content, geolocation (GPS) and the ¿internet of things¿ (IoT) concept. In terms of the latter, the class will dedicate a session to introduce this concept and carry out a practical exercise, controlling a physical device with an app.
(*) Having one¿s own Mac is not a fundamental requirement of this class. If students don¿t have their own Mac, they can join up with other students that do have this brand of computer.
Course Learning Objectives
The aim of this course is to introduce students to app development for mobile devices based on iOS, primarily iPads and iPhones. Also, for those without any prior experience in this area, the goal is to provide them with more attractive means to discover this world than that found in traditional programming courses.
Bibliography
Faculty will provide students with all the material needed for the different course sessions.
Faculty will also make a series of videos available to students, providing examples on how to use the different graphic components seen in class and generally used in apps. This enables students to revise the examples and issues addressed in class more comfortably and then apply them more easily to their own app projects.
Programming bibliography edited by Apple and which can be downloaded for free.
Internet resources.
