This document provides information about a university course on computer skills taught by Professor Antonio Calanducci. It outlines details such as the course schedule, exam format, prerequisites, and goals. The course will introduce students to developing simple mobile apps for iOS and Android using approaches like native, hybrid, and cross-platform development. Popular frameworks that will be covered include React Native, which allows building native apps using JavaScript.

1. Abilità informatiche
Prof. Antonio S. Calanducci
Corso di Laurea in Scienze Biologiche, Unict
Anno accademico 2017/18
Lezione 01: Introduzione al corso

2. About me
Freelancer: Mobile app instructor & engineer
Docente @UniCT (DMI, DipBioGeo, SS-PSI)
ex Apple iOS Developer Academy Teacher
Founder of EtnaTraining
• (http://www.etnatraining.it)

3. Come contattarmi
email: calanducci AT unict.it | Messenger: @a.calanducci
Gruppo FB: (Abilità Informatiche Bio)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/unict.abinfo/
unict.abinfo@groups.facebook.com
Ricevimento:
• DMI @ Studio 19, blocco III
• per appuntamento (Giovedì 16:30 - 18:00)
• Via Skype: @tcaland | Messenger

4. Orario delle lezioni
Giovedì, 09:00 - 11:00, Aula Darwin
10 - 12 incontri settimanali
Venerdì, 15:00 - 17:00 (lab 145) @ Dipartimento di Matematica
ed Informatica (?!! DA CONFERMARE)

5. Modalità esami
Convalida ECDL
Esame :
• pratico in laboratorio
• scelta multipla su moduli 1 e 7 di ECDL

6. Obiettivo
Imparare a sviluppare (semplici) app
per iOS ed Android

7. App markets
Regola del 70/30

8. Struttura delle lezioni
Introduzione teorica
Live demo
Esercitazione in aula / laboratorio
• testi o video
• portare cuffie o auricolari
Esercizi da fare a casa

9. Conoscenze pregresse
Inglese (lettura)
uso delle funzioni base del sistema operativo
uso di internet (browser e posta elettronica)
HTML/CSS può aiutare ma non necessario

10. Requisiti
Notebook (o PC)
Smartphone e/o tablet
• con iOS e/o Android
Compilare il seguente modulo:
• https://goo.gl/forms/VDJWk8q4B95Pvjyz2
• (link anche su pagina FB)

11. Verifica OS Mobile

12. Verifica OS PC/Notebook

13. Call for app ideas
inviatemi un breve messaggio via mail con idea di app utile in
ambito Biologia

14. Mobile development approaches
Native (Silo)
Mobile Web / Hybrid
Native & Cross-platform

15. Silo (Native) Approach
Same apps multiple times:
- Multiple teams
- Multiple code bases
- Different toolset
- Expensive and slow
- Pros:
- Exploitation of the target
platform features
- Best performance
Swift Kotlin

16. “Write once, run everywhere” approach
Mobile Web
• development based on HTML5/CSS/JavaScript (web apps)
• responsive web page that adapts to different screens
• identical look & feel on all platforms
• not performant; limited access to hardware and offline capabilities
• ex: Progressive Web Apps (PWA) by Google
• can be updated immediately (hosted on the Web)
Hybrid
• Wrapping of Mobile Web apps into a native container (WebView)
• distribution through the official app stores
• plug-in allow access to hardware (camera, sensors, etc..)
• ex: Adobe PhoneGap/Apache Cordova/Ionic

17. Native & cross-platform approach
Native User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX)
Native access to services:
• Camera, Microphone, Hardware sensors
• GPS, Mapkit, Direct & Reverse geocoding
• Push Notifications
• Database SQLite, FileSystem, Properties APIs
• Android Intents, Local Notification, Background Services, Contacts, Gestures, Socket,
Clipboard, XML, Network, Locale, etc etc

18. Popular native cross-platform frameworks
Xamarin (Microsoft)
• https://www.xamarin.com/platform
React Native (Facebook)
• https://facebook.github.io/react-native/
NativeScript (Progress Telerik)
• https://www.nativescript.org
Flutter (Google)
• https://flutter.io/
Others:
• Titanium (http://www.appcelerator.com)
• Fuse (https://www.fusetools.com),
• Rubymotion (http://www.rubymotion.com)

19. React Native
JavaScript based framework for building native iOS and Android apps (Native UI)
• support also Universal Windows Platform (UWP, Windows 10 SDK), Xbox One, macOS Desktop
10.10+ (Cocoa), Web, Apple TV, Android TV
It makes use of React, a popular Web UI library
Created by Facebook. First released in March 2015 (iOS), Android support (September 2015)
• very popular (61,040 stars on github!)
Open Source (1624 contributors, 12,977 commits)
Used by many big companies (https://facebook.github.io/react-native/showcase.html):
• Facebook, AirBnb, Walmart, Wix, Tesla, Vogue, Bloomberg, etc
• Increasing demand of React (Native) engineers

20. Why React Native
One language: JavaScript vs Swift/Objective-C and Java
• ES2015 (or ES6) supported and advised
Best Development Experience (DX)
• no time wasting for compile & deploy cycles
• Live reload & Hot reload ( Web like experience)
• Debugging with Chrome Developer tools
bridge to native code if needed
hybrid native apps (react native views into a Swift/Objective-C/
Java app, like Facebook, Instagram apps)

21. Live Demo

22. Expo Snack
http://snack.expo.io

23. Any questions ?