Session 1

Cell Phone App Development

Did you ever want to build an app for your cell phone but didn't know where to start? Our Cell Phone App Development program is designed for beginner app developers. No prior experience needed—just curiosity and interest. During the course, we'll walk you step-by-step towards creating your own Android and iOS cell phone apps.

This course focuses on teaching students how to build a simple yet functional step tracker application for Android, covering the essentials of app design, sensor integration and data handling.
 

Curriculum

Introduction to Android development and basic app structure

  • Basic Android concepts:
    • Introduction to Android OS
    • Setting up Android Studio and understanding the development environment
    • Overview of Java/Kotlin basics
  • Android UI design and activity lifecycle:
    • Designing a basic user interface using XML
    • Understanding activities and their lifecycle
    • Introduction to handling user interactions

Building the step tracker functionality

  • Utilizing Android sensors:
    • Introduction to Android's sensor framework
    • Accessing and using the step counter sensor
  • Data handling and UI integration:
    • Implementing the logic for step tracking
    • Displaying step count data in the app’s UI
    • Basic data storage using SharedPreferences
  • Testing:
    • Basic testing on the Android Emulator
    • Debugging common issues
    • App presentation
Students on computers
Planned Topics
  • The basics of Android OS and development environment and the fundamentals of the chosen programming language
  • Designing a basic UI using XML in Android Studio; understanding the use and implementation of UI components like buttons, text views and layouts
  • Activities in Android and their lifecycle; handling user interactions within an Android application
  • Implementing sensor data handling using Android's Sensor Framework; accessing and using the step counter sensor for step tracking functionalities.
  • Develop step tracking logic and UI Integration
  • Basic data storage techniques; using SharedPreferences for lightweight data storage and retrieval
  • Testing and debugging an Android app using the Android Emulator
  • Completing a functional Android application from start to finish
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Solomon Berhe
Faculty Lead
Solomon Berhe

Assistant Professor, School of Engineering and Computer Science

BS (equivalent), University of Stuttgart, 2005
MSc, University of Connecticut, 2007
PhD, Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Connecticut, 2011

Dr. Berhe has over two decades of software development experience across domains including healthcare, automotive and e-mobility. He specializes in teaching software engineering and mobile app development, and his research is currently centered on modeling software ecosystems for risk assessment in maintenance, building on his earlier work in secure software engineering for clinical ecosystems.

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