LT 2: Mobile App Development Approaches

CS 504
Drake Patrick Mirembe
School of Professional and Vocational Education
Uganda Technology and Management University

2015

1
 Outline of the talk
• Introduction to software development life cycle
• The classic waterfall model
• Structure evolutionary model
• Feature driven design
• Spiral SDLC model
• Rapid Application Development (RAD)

2
 What is a Mobile Application?

A wireless mobile application is a software application, a wireless

service or a mobile service that can be either pushed to users’
handheld wireless devices or downloaded and installed, over the
air, on these devices.
OR
An application which resides in the mobile phone or which is
accessed/used by a mobile phone over any channel such as SMS,
MMS, GPRS, Voice, DTMF

3
 What is a Mobile Application?
• Two types of mobile applications can be accessed by wireless devices,
the first type:

• Browser-Based
– A Browser-Based application is an application that is accessed through
the use of the mobile device’s web browser
– Browser-Based applications are coded with the use of a markup
language
• Native Applications
– Native applications are those applications that are found entirely on
the mobile device
– These applications have their own runtime environment for execution
– Highly interactive applications are really only feasible when they are
native applications
4
 Why Develop Mobile Applications?

• It is estimated that the by December 2014, there were 6.7

billion mobile phone subscribers of which 1.82 billion were
smart phones
• Provide mobile phone users with applications that can keep
them productive, informed, entertained, or connected
whenever they feel the need
• Large potential for financial gain in the field of mobile
applications
• Solve problems which have many challenges and obstacles

5
 Mobile Applications

• Mobile Applications can be found in any industry, they have

been developed for:

– Mobile Gaming (see gameloft)

– Mobile Banking (see RBC)
– Mobile Text, Presentation, and Spreadsheet (see Microsoft
Office Mobile)
– Social Networking (see Facebook)
– Mobile News (see Yahoo! Mobile News)
– Location Aware Services (see Loopt)
– Healthcare – Matibabu and WinSenga

6
 Mobile Application Development Challenges

• Development of mobile applications provides for many

challenges and obstacles that are not commonly found in the
development of applications for desktop computers. Hence
need to we thought approach
• The challenges faced by developers are found in:
– Heterogeneity of mobile devices
– Security
– Network
– Unknown user requirements

7
 Challenge: Mobile Devices

• Java is a portable implementation language, any application

created with Java can be run on any machine which contains a
Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
• J2ME, is similarly a portable language, which can be run on any
mobile device which contains a JRE, however this portability is
severely affected by the heterogeneity of the mobile devices
currently on the market
• Mobile devices display a wide range of characteristics that will
greatly effect a mobile application’s performance, usability,
functionality, etc.

8
 Challenge: Mobile Devices Resources

• Small screen size

– Mobile devices come in many different screen sizes
– Consider the differentiating screen sizes between smartphones and
cell phones
– Smartphones offer the user a generally larger and higher resolution
display screen, contrasted to cell phones which generally provide
lower resolution and smaller display size
• Memory
– Just as screen size differs from device to device, the amount of
available memory and differs from device to device
– Developers must create applications which have a minimal memory
footprint on the device while being of service to the user
– Memory must also be carefully managed during the execution of any
mobile application as it can potentially render the phone unusable
until termination of the application

9
 Challenge: Mobile Devices Resources

• Processing Power
– Another sign of the heterogeneity of mobile devices is the processing
power
– The CPUs differ from phone to phone and this must be taken into
consideration by developers
– Developers cannot create applications that require the user to wait an
unreasonable amount of time for the service to load
• Input Devices
– The input devices on mobile devices range from full QWERTY
keyboards to three letter button inputs

– This means developers must take into account how much text is
required by the user to input into their application and what kind of
difficulties they may experience based on their device

10
 Challenge: Network Issues
• Transmission Errors
– When creating mobile applications that utilize network
connections there is a variety of issues that can effect the
application
– Wireless networks are exposed to interference which can alter
the message received by the client or the server then what was
originally sent
– Applications must take into account these potential problems
especially in financially sensitive services
• Message Latency
– Messages that are to be sent to clients or servers can be delayed
due to a variety of reasons such as overloaded network nodes or
servers, dead or turned off cell phones, distance to travel
– Applications must take this into account so as to avoid sending
servers or clients stale information
11
 More challenges

• Bandwidth Usage
– Wireless customers are forced to pay fees to access the wireless network and
internet
– While phones with WIFI capabilities allow for some users to have free connectivity
at times it is important to keep messages to a minimum and compact
– Applications that cost a lot to use will not be popular with many of the financially
conscious users
• Wireless networks by default are not as secure as wired networks, it is important
to note that message can be intercepted when travelling through the air

• Mobile applications must secure the sensitive data that is being transmitted over
the air

• There are different methods to implement security but it must be relative to the
information we want to secure and the resources that we wish to use for securing
it

12
 Solution: Mobile Devices

• Screen Size
– There is no one single method to overcome to problem of different screen
sizes however there are some ways to help
1: When dealing with graphics that should be placed on edges use
methods which retrieve the edge of the display
2: When creating an for a particular set of mobile devices (ie. Blackberry’s,
cell phones) create the layout to the smallest display size
• Memory
– Compact data representation will help reduce the amount of memory it
requires to load and use your application

– Use optimization techniques to reduce the amount of code required to

write your application (see J2ME tech tips)

– Compress any graphic images that you use in your application and save
graphics in a format which takes the least space

13
 Solution: Mobile Devices
• Processing Power
– A result of reducing the memory consumption and footprint of the
application should help time required to load applications

– If the mobile application has a client-server architecture consider the

partitioning of the application

– Allow the server to do the brunt of the calculations and processing work
and pass the information to the mobile device for less CPU intensive
calculations
• Transmission Errors
– Transmissions errors may be inevitable when dealing with wireless
networks but there are some wireless network protocols than can correct
or at the least detect these errors

– One solution does not exist for every single type of transmission error
that may occur, it is important to plan for these types of errors and be
able to deal with them accordingly
14
 Solution: Network

• Message Latency
– In a client-server architecture the server can store messages that do not arrive at
the mobile device and attempt to resend them at specific intervals

– Servers can also store the message and send it when the mobile device reconnects
to the system

– Let the user know if they receive a message that can possibly be out of date or no
longer valid, this could be done using timestamps
• Bandwidth Usage
– Pass as little messages as required between the client and the server

– Keep the messages as short as possible, you can use symbols to represent
commands for the server

– If your application must use a lot of bandwidth at least notify the user of this fact

15
 Solution: Security

• Important to implement security to a level which is appropriate

for the data being exchanged

• Mobile devices, having limited processing power, cannot

generate large cryptographic keys in a reasonable amount of
time

• There has been research into creating keys for algorithms such
as RSA and others and sending this to the mobile device to use
but this is an area that is still developing

http://cmer.cis.uoguelph.ca 16
 Mobile Application Development

• Knowing the challenges faced by developers with mobile

applications we can look at the tools and steps developers take
when creating applications

• Mobile application development differs from development of

applications on desktops because mobile applications are
developed on one platform and then deployed on a totally
different platform

• This leads to many issues that developers face after moving their
application to another platform and stresses an importance on
testing

17
 SDLC Model
A framework that describes the activities
performed at each stage of a software
development project.
Waterfall Model
• Requirements – defines needed
information, function, behavior,
performance and interfaces.
• Design – data structures, software
architecture, interface
representations, algorithmic
details.
• Implementation – source code,
database, user documentation,
testing.
 Waterfall Strengths
• Easy to understand, easy to use
• Provides structure to inexperienced staff
• Milestones are well understood
• Sets requirements stability
• Good for management control (plan, staff, track)
• Works well when quality is more important than cost
or schedule
 Waterfall Deficiencies
• All requirements must be known upfront
• Deliverables created for each phase are considered
frozen – inhibits flexibility
• Can give a false impression of progress
• Does not reflect problem-solving nature of software
development – iterations of phases
• Integration is one big bang at the end
• Little opportunity for customer to preview the
system (until it may be too late)
 When to use the Waterfall Model
• Requirements are very well defined
• Product definition is stable
• Technology platform is understood
• New version of an existing product
• Porting an existing app to a new platform.
V-Shaped SDLC Model

• A variant of the Waterfall

that emphasizes the
verification and
validation of the
product.
• Testing of the product is
planned in parallel with a
corresponding phase of
development
 V-Shaped Steps
• Project and Requirements Planning – • Production, operation and
allocate resources maintenance – provide for
enhancement and corrections
• Product Requirements and • System and acceptance testing –
Specification Analysis – complete check the entire software system in
specification of the software system its environment

• Architecture or High-Level Design –

defines how software functions fulfill • Integration and Testing – check that
the design modules interconnect correctly

• Detailed Design – develop algorithms • Unit testing – check that each

for each architectural component module acts as expected

• Coding – transform algorithms into

software
 V-Shaped Strengths

• Emphasize planning for verification and

validation of the product in early stages of
product development
• Each deliverable must be testable
• Project management can track progress by
milestones
• Easy to use
 V-Shaped Weaknesses
• Does not easily handle concurrent events
• Does not handle iterations or phases
• Does not easily handle dynamic changes in
requirements
• Does not contain risk analysis activities
 When to use the V-Shaped SDLC approach
• Excellent choice for systems requiring high
reliability – hospital patient control applications
• All requirements are known up-front
• When it can be modified to handle changing
requirements beyond analysis phase
• Solution and technology are known
 Structured Evolutionary Prototyping (SEP)
• Developers build a prototype during the
requirements phase
• Prototype is evaluated by end users
• Users give corrective feedback
• Developers further refine the prototype
• When the user is satisfied, the prototype code is
brought up to the standards needed for a final
product.
 SEP Phases
• A preliminary project plan is developed
• An partial high-level paper model is created
• The model is source for a partial requirements specification
• A prototype is built with basic and critical attributes
• The designer builds
– the database
– user interface
– algorithmic functions
• The designer demonstrates the prototype, the user evaluates
for problems and suggests improvements.
• This loop continues until the user is satisfied
 SEP Strengths
• Customers can “see” the system requirements as they
are being gathered
• Developers learn from customers
• A more accurate end product
• Unexpected requirements accommodated
• Allows for flexible design and development
• Steady, visible signs of progress produced
• Interaction with the prototype stimulates awareness of
additional needed functionality
 SEP Weaknesses
• Tendency to abandon structured program development
for “code-and-fix” development
• Bad reputation for “quick-and-dirty” methods
• Overall maintainability may be overlooked
• The customer may want the prototype delivered.
• Process may continue forever (scope creep)
 When to use SEP
• Requirements are unstable or have to be clarified
• As the requirements clarification stage of a waterfall
model
• Develop user interfaces
• Short-lived demonstrations
• New, original development
• With the analysis and design portions of object-oriented
development.
 Rapid Application Model (RAD)
• Requirements planning phase (a workshop utilizing
structured discussion of business problems)
• User description phase – automated tools capture
information from users
• Construction phase – productivity tools, such as
code generators, screen generators, etc. inside a
time-box. (“Do until done”)
• Cutover phase -- installation of the system, user
acceptance testing and user training
 RAD Strengths
• Reduced cycle time and improved productivity with
fewer people means lower costs
• Time-box approach mitigates cost and schedule risk
• Customer involved throughout the complete cycle
minimizes risk of not achieving customer satisfaction
and business needs
• Focus moves from documentation to code (WYSIWYG).
• Uses modeling concepts to capture information about
business, data, and processes.
 RAD Weaknesses
• Accelerated development process must give quick
responses to the user
• Risk of never achieving closure
• Hard to use with legacy systems
• Requires a system that can be modularized
• Developers and customers must be committed to rapid-
fire activities in an abbreviated time frame.
 When to use RAD
• Reasonably well-known requirements
• User involved throughout the life cycle
• Project can be time-boxed
• Functionality delivered in increments
• High performance not required
• Low technical risks
• System can be modularized
Incremental SDLC Model
• Construct a partial
implementation of a total system
• Then slowly add increased
functionality
• The incremental model prioritizes
requirements of the system and
then implements them in groups.
• Each subsequent release of the
system adds function to the
previous release, until all
designed functionality has been
implemented.
 Incremental Model Strengths
• Develop high-risk or major functions first
• Each release delivers an operational product
• Customer can respond to each build
• Uses “divide and conquer” breakdown of tasks
• Lowers initial delivery cost
• Initial product delivery is faster
• Customers get important functionality early
• Risk of changing requirements is reduced
 Incremental Model Weaknesses
• Requires good planning and design
• Requires early definition of a complete and fully
functional system to allow for the definition of
increments
• Well-defined module interfaces are required
(some will be developed long before others)
• Total cost of the complete system is not lower
 When to use the Incremental Model
• Risk, funding, schedule, program complexity, or need
for early realization of benefits.
• Most of the requirements are known up-front but
are expected to evolve over time
• A need to get basic functionality to the market early
• On projects which have lengthy development
schedules
• On a project with new technology
Spiral SDLC Model
• Adds risk analysis, and
4gl RAD prototyping to
the waterfall model
• Each cycle involves the
same sequence of steps
as the waterfall process
model
 Spiral Quadrant
Determine objectives, alternatives and constraints

• Objectives: functionality, performance, hardware/software

interface, critical success factors, etc.
• Alternatives: build, reuse, buy, sub-contract, etc.
• Constraints: cost, schedule, interface, etc.
 Spiral Quadrant
Evaluate alternatives, identify and resolve risks

• Study alternatives relative to objectives and constraints

• Identify risks (lack of experience, new technology, tight
schedules, poor process, etc.
• Resolve risks (evaluate if money could be lost by continuing
system development
 Spiral Quadrant
Develop next-level product

• Typical activities:
– Create a design
– Review design
– Develop code
– Inspect code
– Test product
 Spiral Quadrant
Plan next phase
• Typical activities
– Develop project plan
– Develop configuration management plan
– Develop a test plan
– Develop an installation plan
 Spiral Model Strengths
• Provides early indication of insurmountable risks,
without much cost
• Users see the system early because of rapid prototyping
tools
• Critical high-risk functions are developed first
• The design does not have to be perfect
• Users can be closely tied to all lifecycle steps
• Early and frequent feedback from users
• Cumulative costs assessed frequently
 Spiral Model Weaknesses
• Time spent for evaluating risks too large for small or low-risk
projects
• Time spent planning, resetting objectives, doing risk analysis
and prototyping may be excessive
• The model is complex
• Risk assessment expertise is required
• Spiral may continue indefinitely
• Developers must be reassigned during non-development
phase activities
• May be hard to define objective, verifiable milestones that
indicate readiness to proceed through the next iteration
 When to use Spiral Model
• When creation of a prototype is appropriate
• When costs and risk evaluation is important
• For medium to high-risk projects
• Long-term project commitment unwise because of
potential changes to economic priorities
• Users are unsure of their needs
• Requirements are complex
• New product line
• Significant changes are expected (research and
exploration)
 Agile SDLC’s
• Speed up or bypass one or more life cycle phases
• Usually less formal and reduced scope
• Used for time-critical applications
• Used in organizations that employ disciplined
methods
 Some Agile Methods
• Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
• Feature Driven Development (FDD)
• Crystal Clear
• Dynamic Software Development Method (DSDM)
• Rapid Application Development (RAD)
• Scrum
• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Rational Unify Process (RUP)
 Extreme Programming - XP
For small-to-medium-sized teams developing
software with vague or rapidly changing
requirements
Coding is the key activity throughout a software
project
• Communication among teammates is done with
code
• Life cycle and behavior of complex objects
defined in test cases – again in code
 XP Practices (1-6)
1. Planning game – determine scope of the next release by
combining business priorities and technical estimates
2. Small releases – put a simple system into production, then
release new versions in very short cycle
3. Metaphor – all development is guided by a simple shared
story of how the whole system works
4. Simple design – system is designed as simply as possible
(extra complexity removed as soon as found)
5. Testing – programmers continuously write unit tests;
customers write tests for features
6. Refactoring – programmers continuously restructure the
system without changing its behavior to remove duplication
and simplify
 XP Practices (7 – 12)
7. Pair-programming -- all production code is written with two
programmers at one machine
8. Collective ownership – anyone can change any code
anywhere in the system at any time.
9. Continuous integration – integrate and build the system
many times a day – every time a task is completed.
10. 40-hour week – work no more than 40 hours a week as a
rule
11. On-site customer – a user is on the team and available full-
time to answer questions
12. Coding standards – programmers write all code in
accordance with rules emphasizing communication through
the code
 XP is “extreme” because
Commonsense practices taken to extreme levels

• If code reviews are good, review code all the time (pair programming)
• If testing is good, everybody will test all the time
• If simplicity is good, keep the system in the simplest design that supports
its current functionality. (simplest thing that works)
• If design is good, everybody will design daily (refactoring)
• If architecture is important, everybody will work at defining and refining
the architecture (metaphor)
• If integration testing is important, build and integrate test several times a
day (continuous integration)
• If short iterations are good, make iterations really, really short (hours
rather than weeks)
 XP References
Online references to XP at

• http://www.extremeprogramming.org/
• http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeProgrammingRoadmap
• http://www.xprogramming.com/
 Feature Driven Design (FDD)
Five FDD process activities
1. Develop an overall model – Produce class and sequence diagrams from chief
architect meeting with domain experts and developers.
2. Build a features list – Identify all the features that support requirements. The
features are functionally decomposed into Business Activities steps within Subject
Areas.
Features are functions that can be developed in two weeks and expressed in client terms with the
template: <action> <result> <object>
i.e. Calculate the total of a sale
3. Plan by feature -- the development staff plans the development sequence of
features
4. Design by feature -- the team produces sequence diagrams for the selected features
5. Build by feature – the team writes and tests the code

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 Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
Applies a framework for RAD and short time
frames

Paradigm is the 80/20 rule

– majority of the requirements can be delivered
in a relatively short amount of time.
 DSDM Principles
1. Active user involvement imperative (Ambassador users)
2. DSDM teams empowered to make decisions
3. Focus on frequent product delivery
4. Product acceptance is fitness for business purpose
5. Iterative and incremental development - to converge on a
solution
6. Requirements initially agreed at a high level
7. All changes made during development are reversible
8. Testing is integrated throughout the life cycle
9. Collaborative and co-operative approach among all
stakeholders essential
 DSDM Lifecycle
• Feasibility study
• Business study – prioritized requirements
• Functional model iteration
– risk analysis
– Time-box plan
• Design and build iteration
• Implementation
 Adaptive SDLC
Combines RAD with software engineering best
practices
• Project initiation
• Adaptive cycle planning
• Concurrent component engineering
• Quality review
• Final QA and release
 Adaptive Steps
1. Project initialization – determine intent of project
2. Determine the project time-box (estimation duration
of the project)
3. Determine the optimal number of cycles and the time-
box for each
4. Write an objective statement for each cycle
5. Assign primary components to each cycle
6. Develop a project task list
7. Review the success of a cycle
8. Plan the next cycle
 Tailored SDLC Models
• Any one model does not fit all projects
• If there is nothing that fits a particular project, pick a
model that comes close and modify it for your needs.
• Project should consider risk but complete spiral too
much – start with spiral & pare it done
• Project delivered in increments but there are serious
reliability issues – combine incremental model with the
V-shaped model
• Each team must pick or customize a SDLC model to fit its
project
 Agile Web references
DePaul web site has links to many Agile references
http://se.cs.depaul.edu/ise/agile.htm
 Quality – the degree to which the software
satisfies stated and implied requirements

• Absence of system crashes

• Correspondence between the software and the users’
expectations
• Performance to specified requirements

Quality must be controlled because it lowers production speed,

increases maintenance costs and can adversely affect
business
 Quality Assurance Plan
• The plan for quality assurance activities should be in writing
• Decide if a separate group should perform the quality assurance
activities
• Some elements that should be considered by the plan are: defect
tracking, unit testing, source-code tracking, technical reviews,
integration testing and system testing.
 Quality Assurance Plan
• Defect tracing – keeps track of each defect found, its source,
when it was detected, when it was resolved, how it was resolved,
etc
• Unit testing – each individual module is tested
• Source code tracing – step through source code line by line
• Technical reviews – completed work is reviewed by peers
• Integration testing -- exercise new code in combination with code
that already has been integrated
• System testing – execution of the software for the purpose of
finding defects.