Taming iOS and Android

In case you missed it, the App Development Team held its first Code-a-Thon on Friday, October 16 at 8AM. The team includes Zach DeMeglio, Meher Upadhyay and myself. Our job is to build upon last semester’s work by Shayna Rosado ’20, who developed a pilot Android app to alert users when a Blue CoLab water sensor detects excess pollution. We are now developing an app for both iOS and Android systems — with a foundation built in Firebase using JavaScript, Swift, and Java.

Of course, Covid-19  restrictions present challenges to collaborative work. Normally, we could have worked alongside each other in the BlueCoLab’s data lab. But “remote” is the “new norm,” and we are still working at making that a success. Using Zoom, our Code-a-Thon allowed us to work collaboratively on one laptop and share screens to transfer our spoken ideas into a workable prototype.

We were able to run a pseudocode of how we want the application to operate, build a base template of the home page, lay out the different monitoring locations, and create a data page. Working primarily with the web software, Figma, we created a visual of the app with the implemented data and features, and composed a running list of components and other features that need to be implemented into both Android and iOS mobile applications.

Since the Code-a-Thon, we have been working independently to produce different components of the applications. Zach is in charge of the navigation menu and the screen flow with the necessary links. Meher is in charge of the in-application web browser for the developing BlueCoLab website. And I am in charge of the home pages in their entirety – including the scrollable slide show of Ada and the Choate Pond crew, as well as our animated location page.

We hope to have a foundation to start stitching together the app within the next week or so, with a launch for the rest of the BlueCoLab team in the following month.  We are now penciling-in time for another Code-a-Thon. Get in touch if you want to play in our app sandbox!