During my Senior Project, I learned how to design and code iPhone apps. This is something that I have wanted to learn to do for many years, but never had the opportunity to do. Before I began, I didn’t know how hard or challenging this was going to be for me. I had some prior knowledge that I thought would help, and it did. When I began designing the app, I had to catch myself up on all the current design practices. For example, it seems to be the trend now to have vivid and bold colors. Apple has really made “flat” design a standard for all apps since iOS 7 was released. I didn’t see fit the use of incredibly vivid colors, but I tried to make the design as simple and intuitive as possible for the user. I played around with a few different designs and color pallets but eventually set on blue and white.
When I began coding it, I thought I had it under control, but once I opened up Xcode, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I had to spend a few full days on learning my way around, and what everything did. I also realized that it probably wasn’t smart to just jump in to programming, but rather to make some practice apps. The first one I made was incredibly simple. It was just a button that counted how many times it was pressed. I then moved to a more complicated app, which was making an actual calculator. This didn’t only test my coding knowledge, but I also had to think about algorithms for storing the numbers. Doing all of this took a majority of the second week. By the end of this week, I was much more confident in starting PhyCalc.
The first thing I did when starting PhyCalc was layout the interface in the StoryBoard Builder. I had neglected learning much about this, but I was able to figure out AutoLayout and how to set constraints for each element. After this, it was a whole lot of coding. I thought that I might have been able to copy and paste some things, but that wasn’t the case. I had to write methods for each possible scenario. I had to make sure all user error messages were taken care of. I had to do countless other things, but on top of all, I had to keep in mind that the app had to finished at the end of the week. This is what kept me focused. I have found that I work really well under pressure. I knew that if I didn't finish by the end of the week, Apple wouldn’t have time to review the app.
During the last week of the project, I did some little, but important things. The biggest project that I took on the last week was making a web site for the app. This took a few days to make, and to get everything in control. I also made some fliers for the app, but since Apple hasn’t approved or denied the app yet, I haven’t printed them out yet.
This project has taught me a lot about the process of software development. Since I want to pursue computer science in college, this gave me a taste of was I will experience. There were times during the project when I regretted doing it, but I am happy that I decided to do this.
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