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Merit Academy Tech U

Mobile Apps

Smart mobile devices are a relatively new development target and the way we build for them is still rapidly changing. There are two ways to develop for mobile devices: write native apps or write cross-platform apps.

  • Native apps compile to executables that can be run on one operating system (i.e. Native Android Apps, .apk files, are written in Java or Kotlin; Native iOS Apps, .ipa files, are written in Swift).
  • Cross-platform apps are written in a language that can either be run in a mobile browser (Progressive Web Apps) or hybridly compiled and installed to multiple devices (i.e. React Native JavaScript Apps, Flutter Dart Apps, Xamarin C# Apps).

Native vs Cross-Platform Image Source and More Information: https://www.simform.com/blog/native-vs-cross-platform-development/.

What You Will Be Building

Those of you in AP CS Principles will be building a Progressive Web App (PWA), which is essentially a website that you can download and run on a phone. Those of you in AP CS A will be building a native Android App using Android Studio and Java.

This video explains a little about what a progressive web app is and touches a little on the difference between it and a mobile app.

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