CS615

CS615 – Mobile Application Development

This course introduces the design and engineering of mobile applications, focusing on both native (Android/iOS) and cross-platform development. Students begin by understanding the architecture of mobile apps — including the Model-View-Controller (MVC) and MVVM patterns — and how mobile UX differs from web or desktop environments. On the Android side, students use Android Studio, Java/Kotlin, and XML to build interfaces, handle user input, and work with device hardware (camera, GPS, sensors). On the iOS side, basic Swift and Xcode practices are introduced. The course transitions into Flutter or React Native, enabling the development of cross-platform apps from a single codebase. Key topics include state management, asynchronous programming, local storage (SQLite, Shared Preferences), and cloud integration using Firebase (Authentication, Realtime Database, Firestore). Students also explore RESTful APIs, push notifications, user authentication, and in-app navigation. Each student completes a fully functional app with back-end integration, which is tested and deployed to an emulator or device. Debugging techniques, UI testing, performance optimization, and store deployment (Google Play Store / App Store) are also addressed.