Large projects may be written by multiple people, or even companies being contracted. Medium projects may not want to have a single large file, and instead, break it into smaller chunks, or files, which makes managing the project easier and easier to edit the files as you look for items. To do this, you need…
There are several types of architecture involved in a web app. Some of these are found in desktop apps, some are not. Content Architecture – focuses on the definition of the overall hypermedia structure of the WebApp. Generally there are four main types of structures. Linear structures follow a set path that the user should…
Like with a desktop app, a web app’s quality can be measured in different categories such as: But they also have additional considerations: Design Goals When designing an app, you have lots of factors to consider. Most relate to the UI either directly, or indirectly. This will affect your programming design and complexity. Simplicity –…
Let’s look a little closer at constructors than we did in our initial Defining Classes for Objects example. Anytime you create an object, a constructor is called. If you overload your constructor, C++ will pick the right constructor to call, just like it does when you overload a function. Constructors must have the same name…
Once you create your class, you need to create an object. The Class is just a blueprint for the program to follow. It doesn’t do anything until you create an object based off of that blueprint. Think of a house. If you have a house blueprint, all you have are some sheets of paper or…
Object Oriented Programming (OOP) involves programming using objects. An Object is made from a Class which defines the attributes of the object and the behaviors. Think about it like what is it about or with adjectives (attributes) and what it can do, or verbs, (behaviors). As an example let’s consider a Class called Student. A…
A design pattern can be characterized as “a three-part rule which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a solution” [Ale79] For software design, context allows the reader to understand the environment in which the problem resides and what solution might be appropriate within that environment. A set of requirements, including limitations and constraints, acts as…
An application should be designed so that it anticipates the user’s next move. Especially on a mobile device so the user doesn’t have to do as much on a small screen. The interface should communicate the status of any activity initiated by the user. This is especially important since you may have some time between…
