East Carolina University
Department of Computer Science

CSCI 4540
Mobile Computing
Standard Syllabus

Catalog entry

P: CSCI 3010. Mobile computing and mobile application development. Mobile computing applications, technologies and wireless communication. Computing in environments with limited resources and low power, fault tolerance, and persistence. Mobile application frameworks and development environments. User interface design and evaluating user experience.

Course summary

This course provides a practical foundation for developing mobile applications as well as an introduction to the research literature in this area. Students will learn the tools and techniques used to build and deploy mobile applications, including how to use common mobile services (e.g., maps and location services, local databases, RESTful APIs), while also exploring the basics of mobile networking. Students are required to complete both a team project and a series of homework assignments over the course of the semester.

Course topics

• Android Activities and Layouts
• Model-View-Controller Architecture
• Fragments
• Lists and the RecyclerView
• Dialogs
• SQLite Databases
• Implicit and Explicit Intents
• Data Binding and MVVM
• Location Services and Maps

Student learning outcomes

• Design, develop, and test mobile applications
• Work with common mobile APIs such as data, maps, and location services
• Integrate applications with web-based, RESTful interfaces
• Support internationalization and accessibility features in apps
• Navigate the research literature developing around mobile development

Textbook

Grading

The course is graded using a combination of 7 homework assignments (25%), weekly quizzes (10%), a group project (25%), a midterm exam (20%), and a final exam (20%).

Grade meanings