The Dawn of the App

If you haven't already, you're going to need to download an IDE to edit and modify source code for any project you work on. Xcode is the most popular IDE for iOS, and Eclipse for Android. On Android, a recently released IDE named Android Studio is gaining momentum as well.

Defining an App in Today’s Context

We discuss Springboard a bit in this chapter, but don't dive too deep into the topic. Wikipedia has a great page on the history of this important iOS home screen service.

Build It and They Will Come

Your apps will be distributed in various app stores. Here are links to the Apple App Store, Google Play store, Amazon Appstore, the Windows Store, BlackBerry App World, and Samsung Apps

A Portable, Pocket Computer

Here's a nice video of the entire announcement for the original iPhone. It's a nice bit of history to look back and see the device that kickstarted the entire mobile computer industry. If you enjoy that, here's the video of the keynote presentation for the original iPad as well.

Google and Android

Here's a download link for the source code to the Android operating system. Because the system is open source, manufacturers and developers are able to modify it as they best see fit for their own needs, a luxury not available for iOS or Windows Phone.

Distinctions between Platforms

During this section, we shortly discuss Fitts's Law, which is a pretty important human-interface concept when designing interface for traditional mouse and keyboard computer systems. You can read about Fitts's Law extensively here.