Making an app by myself!

After working with several programs in class, it was time to build something on our own.
We were going to make an app. With MIT, you can easily create your own app.

What is MIT app inventor?


App Inventor lets you develop applications for Android phones using a web browser and either a connected phone or emulator. The App Inventor servers store your work and help you keep track of your projects.

You build apps by working with:

• The App Inventor Designer, where you select the components for your app.
• The App Inventor Blocks Editor, where you assemble program blocks that specify how the components should behave. You assemble programs visually, fitting pieces together like pieces of a puzzle.

Your app appears on the phone step-by-step as you add pieces to it, so you can test your work as you build. When you're done, you can package your app and produce a stand-alone application to install.

If you don't have an Android phone, you can build your apps using the Android emulator, software that runs on your computer and behaves just like the phone.

The App Inventor development environment is supported for Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and Windows operating systems, and several popular Android phone models. Applications created with App Inventor can be installed on any Android phone. 

Self-made app

We tried to make an app on which you can find a lot of information about some cities in Portugal. I choose for Algarve, Lisbon, Porto and Lagos. 

The first screen is a collection of the four cities with a picture. You can press on the city were you would like to have some more information about.

When you press it, there is an individual tab about that specific city. You can find a lot of information like for example the things you can visit, the monuments, how to get their, the weather expectations and so on. 

We could write anything we wanted as long as it was some useful information. 

I liked it a lot but the only disadvantage of this program was that whenever you made something and you wanted to check if it was good, you had to check it through the phone.

But not everyone has a phone with android, so most of the times I just had to trust myself that it would be okay or I had to ask someone for his phone. 

Another disadvantage was that, when you wrote a text, you couldn't see it on the computer. You always had to check your phone again. The problem was that when you had a mistake, you couldn't change it easily. You always had to delete everything before you could make adjustments. 

Although I liked it, I will never use it in primary school because I think it is to difficult. 

Not only for the children to make it themselves but also the use of it is to difficult.