App Inventor for Android

Do-it-yourself App Creation David Wolber, Computer Science

Talk Outline

• App Development (iPhone/Android) • App Inventor introduction • App Inventor at USF • Demo: No Texting While Driving • App Inventor’s Secret Sauce • What you can build David Wolber, Computer Science

Smartphone market share

David Wolber, Computer Science

Market share w/newbies

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?p=25901 David Wolber, Computer Science

Developing Apps

• iPhone – Objective C – High level tools to turn pre-existing content into an app. (e.g., http://www.appmakr.com/learn_more/ ) • Android – Java – App Inventor David Wolber, Computer Science

App Inventor

• Blocks language, like plugging in puzzle pieces.

• Similar to Lego Mindstorms and Scratch but for phones not robots • “Hypercard” for mobile phones, “electronic napkin” for prototyping apps • Democratizes app building.

David Wolber, Computer Science

An App Inventor App

What do you think this app does?

David Wolber, Computer Science

The Brief History of App Inventor

• Summer 2009 – Hal Abelson of MIT and Google – Pilot program with 10 schools – Public launch July 2010 David Wolber, Computer Science

App Inventor at USF

• CS 107: Computing, Robots, and the Web.

– 4th semester teaching App Inventor – Now 2 sections • Students’ work cited in SF Chronicle , NY Times , Techcrunch, Wired , … • • Wolber authored App Inventor tutorials O’Reilly Video series • Co-authoring book David Wolber, Computer Science

Demo: “No Texting While Driving”

• Three windows of environment • Change title, show in emulator • Add label, textbox, button for custom response • Respond with a fixed message,test • Use custom response of user • Custom response for mom • Speak it aloud David Wolber, Computer Science

Why is it so easy?

• • • • • •

No syntax

. The blocks language eliminates the need to remember and type code

Everything is right in front of you

. Components and functions are in drawers. Just find,drag, and drop.

Events at top level

. "When this happens, the app does this" is the correct conceptual model.

High-level components

. The app inventor team has built a great library with simplicity the main goal.

Only some blocks plug-in

. You can't do things that don't make sense.

Concreteness

. Less abstract than many languages.

David Wolber, Computer Science

Apps students have built

• Quizzes, surveys, study guides • USF restaurant guides • Droid Where’s my car?

• Broadcast Hub • Next Muni • Games David Wolber, Computer Science

What you can build

• Educational apps – Including video, images, text-to-speech • Location-aware apps • Games • NXT Robot Controllers • Web-enabled apps • Personal apps David Wolber, Computer Science

Demo: Quiz App

• Lists for questions,answers • Index to walk through questions • Next button • Checking the answer David Wolber, Computer Science

Try It!

• Go to: appinventor.googlelabs.com

• Register and get started – Download software – Try HelloPurr app and other tutorials – Use phone or emulator • Help-- Wolber’s sites: – appinventor.org

– appinventorapi.com (advanced) • Take CS 107 (and send students!) David Wolber, Computer Science

David Wolber, Computer Science

David Wolber, Computer Science