Android App Development

This MOOC teaches you how to program core features and classes from the Java programming language that are used in Android, which is the dominant platform for developing and deploying mobile device apps. In particular, this MOOC covers key Java programming language features that control the flow of execution through an app (such as Java’s various looping constructs and conditional statements), enable access to structured data (such as Java's built-in arrays and common classes in the Java Collections Framework, such as ArrayList and HashMap), group related operations and data into classes and interfaces (such as Java's primitive and user-defined types, fields, methods, generic parameters, and exceptions), customize the behavior of existing classes via inheritance and polymorphism (such as subclassing and overriding virtual methods). Learners will apply these Java features in the context of core Android components (such as Activities and basic UI elements) by applying common tools (such as Android Studio) needed to develop Java programs and useful Android apps. Learners will work on several hands-on projects throughout the MOOC, i.e., each week will require learners to write solutions to programming assignments that reinforce the material covered in the lecture videos. There will be roughly 4-6 hours of student engagement time per week, including video lectures, quizzes, and programming assignments.

This 4 week MOOC builds upon the overview of Java and Android covered in Course 1 by delving deeper into core Android app components, such as intents, activities, and broadcast receivers. You will learn by example how to program these core Android components together with Android concurrency frameworks and basic Java file I/O classes (such as File and InputStream) and Android storage mechanisms (such as Shared Preferences). You'll also learn how to use the Git source code management system. Throughout this MOOC you'll work incrementally on a project involving downloading, storing, and display images from remote websites. Each week you will add additional capabilities to the project, based on material covered in the lecture videos. You'll spend roughly 4 hours per week watching video lectures, taking quizzes, and programming assignments with Java and Android.

Engineering Maintainable Android Apps, which is a 4 week MOOC that shows by example various methods for engineering maintainable Android apps, including test-driven development methods and how to develop/run unit tests using JUnit and Robotium (or equivalent automated testing frameworks for Android), as well as how to successfully apply common Java/Android software patterns to improve the extensibility and clarity of Android apps. Students will work on the appropriate automated unit quizzes, based on the material covered in the lecture videos. These lessons will demonstrate the benefits of good software engineering practices that are targeted at creating maintainable code for mobile apps. There will be roughly 3-4 hours of student engagement time per week, including video lectures, and quizzes. The ordering of the modules within the course is designed to be flexible. In particular, students can watch the videos in whatever order suits their experience and needs, e.g., they may want to watch the unit testing videos prior to the software pattern videos if they prefer to learn about unit testing first.

The Capstone project integrates material from throughout the Android App Development Specialization to exercise and assess the ability of learners to create an interesting Android app. Learners will apply knowledge and skills learned in previous MOOCs in this Specialization, including Java programming features; Android activity, broadcast receiver, service, and content provider (plus SQLite) components; and unit, integration, and user interface testing. The project itself is similar in scope to previous assignments in the earlier MOOCs in the Specialization. However, it is intentionally designed to enable learners to create a customized app that demonstrates their creativity and mastery of the Specialization topics.