CS184 - Introduction to Mobile Application Development

Fall 2023

This home page, the CS184 Slack Channel, and maybe a CS184 Gradescope, will be used as centers of communication for the class. Course announcements and grade administration will be through the CS184 Canvas. Make sure you are enrolled!

While the webpage provides you with up-to-date information about assignments and what is currently going on in class, homeworks will be submitted via Canvas or Gradescope. Slack serves as an open forum: questions, answers, suggestions, etc., with focused channels for special topics and project groups.

General Information

Class Hours:    MW, 2:00pm-3:15pm | Section F 3:00pm-3:50pm, 4:00pm-4:50pm, or 5:00pm-5:50pm 
Class Location: South Hall 1431
Instructor:     Tobias Höllerer
Office Hours:   Tue, 4pm-5pm or by appointment
e-mail:         holl@cs...
Discussion/Lab: F 3:00pm-3:50pm (ILP 2209), 4:00pm-4:50pm (ILP 2209) or Friday 5:00pm-5:50pm (ILP 2209) 
TAs:            Huanhua (Evelyn) Xu, Yilin (Michael) Wang, Luke Yoffe 	
e-mail:         {huanhua_xu,yilin_wang,lukeyoffe}@ucsb...
Office hours:   Evelyn: TBA, Yilin: TBA, Luke: TBA

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to developing applications for different mobile ecosystems.

Over the past 20 years, the use of information technology has undergone a clear transition from stationary office and desktop computing to mobile computing. This development was accompanied by the emergence of networked and social computing. The Sales of smartphones and tablet computers have by far outpaced the sales of conventional desktop PCs for years now. The way people today obtain computer literacy has changed: Apps and cloud computing have replaced desktop computing in many cases. Computing has shifted from office or home office work to an anywhere-and-anytime activity.

This course aims to prepare students for this extraordinary shift in commercial and societal focus. The possibilities of mobile device software development are endless. In this introductory course, we get your curiosity started and prepare you for more advanced app development.

Students will apply their gained knowledge in a series of practical assignments using an established ecosystem that highlight selected portions of the software design cycle, as well as familiarize them with sound programming practices and effective tools and techniques to create successful applications. The course will also touch upon novel interaction concepts that go beyond what we normally see in today's mobile apps.

Course Requirements and Grading

This class teaches the theory and practice of effective software design for mobile platforms. You will learn about principles, procedures, and programming approaches. You will create, iterate, and evaluate interaction designs.

With students coming into this class with varying backgrounds, the exact course requirements will emerge over the first week, once the instructor has been able to form an idea about students' resources, backgrounds and expectations.

There will likely be a series of design and implementation assignments that lead up to individual or group class projects. There _may_ be one exam (in week 8 or 9). We will continuously assign reading and tutorial material from online resources, which is supposed to help your design efforts and to stimulate class participation. Here is how your final grade will be determined:  

• Exam (if held, then 30-40%). This rubric may be replaced with in-class quizzes or dropped entirely.
• Up to 5 (likely 4) one to two - week homework assignments (tentatively 25%; if there is an exam then 40%).
• Up to 10 (likely 9) wek-to-week Section assignments. Team work and documentation efforts. (30%)
• Final project implementation, documentation, and presentation (tentatively 45%; if there is an exam, then 25%)
• Class participation and activities [presentations on side topics, links and answers on Slack, demos, etc.] will be noted and can positively influence your grade

In case you disagree with any grade, submit your grievance in writing (email or paper) to the grader responsible, explaining and documenting your case.

Lateness Policy

All assignments are due at midnight on the scheduled due date. To make the deadlines more manageable, each student will be allowed three "late days" during the quarter for which lateness will not be penalized. Late days may be applied to all assignments, including design sketches and programming assignments, but not the final project! Your  late days may be used as you see fit -- one or multiple per assignment -- but once you used a late day it's good and gone, you cannot reapply it to another assignment. Anything turned in after 12:00:00am until midnight the next day is one day late. Every day thereafter that an assignment is late, including weekends and holidays, counts as an additional late day.

Absolutely no late work will be accepted after the deadline if you have used up all your late days. If you're not done on time you must turn in what you have to receive partial credit. There will be no exceptions from this rule. Please make sure you understand this policy.

When making use of your late days, the online submission provides the timestamp that counts. 

Academic Misconduct

We will strictly enforce UCSB's academic misconduct policies. We use electronic tools to detect plagiarism among submitted homework solutions and sources from the internet. Read these guidelines before beginning each programming assignment. Any form of  plagiarism, collusion, or cheating will result in an "F" in this course and may result in suspension from UCSB for two quarters. When in doubt about any forms of receiving help on your assignments, ask us!

F2023 update: use of generative AI coding help is explicitly allowed and encouraged, but needs to be acknowledgedd and documented. Details to follow.

Open Door Policy

I would like the course to be informative and enjoyable. Let us know what you find just, good and interesting about the course. Let us know sooner if you feel something could be improved. See us, send an e-mail, or leave us a note.

Class Materials

See the handout column in the class schedule!

Book/Materials

• TBA

Other Sources

• TBA

Class Schedule

Assignments

• Mon, Oct. 02: If you haven't filled in a Student Survey yet, please do so right away! It is mandatory for every enrolled student
  
  
• Programming Assignment 1 (Hello World) is due on Gradescope on Thu, Oct. 12, 12:59pm