This week, I worked on improving both the Android and the iOS versions of the Flixter.
In the Android app, I added a RatingBar that converted a movie’s score out of 10 to stars on a view for a particular movie. Using YouTubePlayerView, I also added the ability to play a movie’s trailer video in full screen:
In the iOS app, I added the ability to view a grid layout of movie posters matching a certain genre using a CollectionView and I also added the ability to tap on a TableView cell in order to view a detailed screen about a particular movie:
I’ve resumed teaching high school CS full-time, but I am also now working towards an advanced certificate in web and mobile applications development.
I was perhaps a little overzealous and enrolled in too many interesting classes initially:
Linear Algebra (this wasn’t required for my CS degree, but a lot of grad CS courses require it, if I choose to go on to a Masters/PhD)
Advanced Web Frameworks (part of the web and mobile applications program)
Android Development (a free course through CodePath)
iOS Development (another free course through CodePath)
I have decided to drop the linear algebra course since it is the only one that requires specific meet times, which made things a bit challenging since the course meets right after I finish teaching, when my brain was ready for a nap.
Here’s the first Android assignment I’ve completed, Flixter. It uses NYT’s Movie API to populate a TableView with information fetched from a query.
You can find more details about the app and its source code on Github!
We also did the Flixter assignment in the iOS class using Swift: