Turning Ideas into Apps

Presentation done for HurriCon '12 about making apps. This is just the presentation side, for all the code and more cool stuff, check out http://labcoder.com or directly go to my github profile: http://github.com/labcoder

Transcript

2. Oscar Sanchez! labcoder.com! @oms1005! oscar@labcoder.com!
3. What Is An App?! •  Not a website!! •  Apps are interactive! •  Apps are! •  Apps reach everyone!
4. Why Would I Make An App?! •  They’re fun to use and make! •  You learn more! •  Better than a resume ! •  Not just for programmers anymore!
5. I’m not a programmer…!
6. That’s okay!
 J!
7. What Programming
 USED to Be Like!
8. You Had to Look Like This:!
9. What Programming
 Is Like TODAY!
10. Still all
 that stuff…!
11. •  Cool! •  Accessible! •  New! •  Free!!
12. What Does ‘FREE’ mean?! •  Other programmers don’t want to hurt you! •  Great online community (makes sense…)! •  Ease of finding help! •  Literally free!
13. Awesome… But I Want
 to Make An App Now!
14. Have An Idea! •  What type of app will it be?! – Funny?! – Productive?! – A Game?! – Something cool?! •  Who is the audience?! – TARGET THEM!
15. Practice Makes Perfect!
16. Pick a Platform!
17. Pick a Platform! • Mobile! ! • Web!
18. Know What You Can Make!
19. Mobile Apps! •  Great for news feeds (Facebook, Twitter, etc)! •  Good for short, simple or repetitive games! •  You can incorporate tons of controls (gyroscope, geolocation, touch)! •  Easy to keep track of user information!
20. Web Apps! •  Most accessible! •  Can be MUCH more powerful! •  Easily the most popular! •  More room for creativity (in my opinion)!
21. iOS! •  Apps made in Objective-C! •  Need to have a Mac! •  Kind of expensive! •  Very fluid layouts!
22. Android! •  Apps made in Java! •  Not as standardized as iOS! •  Lots of differences between versions! •  No wait when releasing an app!
23. Web Apps! •  Completely dependent on server running it! •  Allows you to get a domain name!! •  Easier to adapt than a mobile app! •  Because it runs in a browser, no need for specific operating systems!
24. How to make a web app!
25. Ruby on Rails (RoR)! •  Runs your apps in Ruby! •  Uses MVC framework (which is awesome)! •  Great community! •  Really catching on lately, still growing! •  Cool sites like twitter are made using Rails!
26. Django! •  Runs apps in Python! •  Uses MVC framework (still awesome)! •  Also great community! •  Not as popular, but lots of news sites use(d) it!
27. Traditional! •  PHP, javascript, html! •  Though simple to use, very powerful! •  Can lead to messy code!! •  Facebook and most sites in the world use apache (and some modifications…)!
28. What Can I Do?!
29. APIs! •  Twilio – For telecommunication apps! •  Face – For apps which use face detection! •  Aviary – For incorporating image editing! •  SendGrid – For easy emailing! •  Hunch – For personal recommendations! •  Spotify – For music info in apps! •  AND SO MANY MORE! •  http://www.programmableweb.com/!
30. Let’s skip some steps!
31. We’ll come back to them!!
32. Releasing an app! •  Advertising is key!! •  Free/Sale?! •  Target the intended audience! •  Demo it if you can!
33. Back to code…!