We are not aiming to learn people how to code, but to get people interested in learning how to code. We went back to the drawing board with the new concept we agreed on with Martijn. After some thinking and drawing we came up with the prototype you see below. You can also test it out with Marvel with this link. There are apps like Swifty and SwiftBites that does similar things, but we think our approach will be a bit different. We are not aiming to learn people how to code, but to get people interested in learning how to code. To do this we will make fun and interactive tutorials that will give everyone a taste of how it is to code, and most importantly, the feel of achievement when you see something you made appear on the screen of your iPhone.
After we had finished our user-stories and prototype we started designing the user interface of the app. We skipped some important steps here that should be part of any app development, such as making wireframes, thinking about the user flow and more, but since we only have 5 weeks to complete this project we cut a few corners. Here is the design we came up with today, and we are quite happy with it so far. It incorporates the design elements of The App Academy, while at the same time it gives a fun and playful feel to it. You can also try out the prototype at Marvel with this link. What do you think?
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Make a coding quiz for people who are interested in coding. Let them test their knowledge, gain more knowledge and hopefully get them interested in further developing their coding skills This week we started our new and final project here at The App Academy. This will last for 5 weeks and we now have to work with a Product Owner that has an idea for an app he or she wants to build. We have three team and three totally different projects. I am working with Willy again, which I am very happy with. Our Product Owner is Mr. App Academy himself, Martijn Wuite. His idea was: make a coding quiz for people who are interested in coding. Let them test their knowledge, gain more knowledge and hopefully get them interested in further developing their coding skills. We used most of Tuesday for brainstorming. Which features does the app need, how should the quiz games be, would people compete against eachother, which backend would we use etc. Of course PostIts are mandatory for this type of brainstorming. In the end we had a good idea of what type of app Martijn was looking for, so on Wednesday we started sketching some rough prototype sketches. These helped us think about the flow of the app, which information should be visible and which type of screens we need. We, and by we I mean Willy because I can't draw, sketched the screens and then used a prototyping app called Marvel to easily try out the app we had thought of. You can see the result with this link. After we made the prototype we went to our Product Owner to discuss what we had made and our thoughts about the app. Although we liked the Quiz concept we had made we also felt like this would not serve the ultimate goal of the app that Martijn is looking for: to get more people interested in coding.
Me and Willy had come up with another concept as well that we pitched to Martijn. We called it the Code Challenge, and it involved the user to finish short snippets of code which then would be visualized once they are done. For example to display a picture. The user would have to fill in blanks in a already half-completed code-snippet. If he or she would get it right, then the picture they chose would be displayed. We felt this provide a much bigger sense of accomplishment than a quiz would, and we think that it is by tapping into THIS feeling that we would get more people interested in coding. Martijn agreed with us and he liked the concept a lot. We learned that even though a Product Owner has a very good idea in his head, it does not always mean that that is the best or the only idea that will ultimately get him to his end-goal. So communication with the Product Owner is very important in projects like this. Which is why Agile and Scrum is so often used in the software industry. So then it was back to the drawing board for me and Willy with a new concept to work out. Below is the Code Challenge concept we showed to Martijn. Today we started our first project - where we will build our own first app. I am teamed up with Willy and we since we are both expats in The Netherlands we chose to build an app that focuses on the Dutch - particularly on "What makes the Dutch so Dutch?".
In the app we have to incorporate these features:
Shouldn't be too difficult right? Let's see. Here we go! Btw, think we already have a good name for the app: SoDutch! Week 2 of the iOS Bootcamp has moved on to iOS programming. In the first week we learned the basics of Swift, and this week we have gotten to use that in practise. We have moved on to the iOS Programming book from The Big Nerd Ranch (https://www.bignerdranch.com/we-write/ios-programming/) and we finally get to write code that will show up on our iPhones. The solution is in the code - Jero (class mate) We have been making lists, deleting and editing entries in lists and displaying maps and web sites. The challenges at the end of each chapter can be quite challenging (hence the word), but everyone gets to the end eventually, which is great to see.
We are working towards a 2 week project where we know we will at least make use of tables, maps and the camera. Week 1 of the iOS Bootcamp is over and I am even more excited than day 1. I was a bit anxious about how much I would like the programming. I really liked it in University, but its been probably 8 years ago since I wrote any code. So it feels really good that I feel the same urge and determination now to find that one mistake I have made before the program can run properly. My inner geek is coming out of hibernation!
The first week has been spent going through The Big Nerd Ranch book for Swift Programming, reading and during the examples there. Its a really good book if you ever want to start to learn yourself. I'll put a link to their website here: https://www.bignerdranch.com/we-write/swift-programming/ The class and the teachers have proven to be very nice as well. And time flies when you are writing code! If it goes this quickly all the time then the 12 weeks will be over in no time. |
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