Mobile App Development Mobile Development Foundations Syllabus

Mobile Development Foundations syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Mobile Development Foundations in Mobile App Development, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Mobile Ecosystem Overview

   4 topics

   • iOS vs Android Platforms
   • Native vs Cross-Platform vs Hybrid
   • App Categories and Distribution Models
   • Mobile Development Toolchain
2. 2

   Programming Language Essentials

   4 topics

   • Swift Fundamentals
   • Kotlin Fundamentals
   • Dart Basics for Flutter
   • JavaScript and TypeScript for React Native
3. 3

   Mobile UI/UX Principles

   4 topics

   • Apple Human Interface Guidelines
   • Google Material Design
   • Responsive and Adaptive Layouts
   • Accessibility and Inclusive Design
4. 4

   App Lifecycle and Architecture Basics

   4 topics

   • Application Lifecycle States
   • Activities, Fragments, and View Controllers
   • Navigation Patterns
   • Separation of Concerns
5. 5

   Version Control and Collaboration

   3 topics

   • Git Fundamentals
   • Branching and Pull Requests
   • Managing Dependencies

Mobile Development Foundations flashcards for Mobile App Development

18 of 54 cards from the Mobile Development Foundations deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the primary programming language and IDE combination for native iOS development?

   Swift (or Objective-C) written in Xcode, Apple's official IDE, targeting the iOS SDK.

2. What is the primary programming language and IDE combination for native Android development?

   Kotlin (or Java) written in Android Studio, which is built on IntelliJ IDEA and uses the Android SDK/Gradle.

3. Name three key differences between the iOS and Android platforms.

   1) Languages/IDE (Swift+Xcode vs Kotlin+Android Studio); 2) Distribution (single App Store vs Play Store plus sideloading/third-party stores); 3) Ecosystem (closed, uniform hardware vs open, fragmented device landscape).

4. Define native mobile development.

   Building an app with the platform's official language and SDK (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android), compiling to a separate binary per platform for maximum performance and full API access.

5. Define cross-platform mobile development and give two examples.

   Writing one shared codebase that runs on multiple platforms via a framework/runtime. Examples: Flutter (Dart) and React Native (JavaScript/TypeScript).

6. Define hybrid mobile development.

   Wrapping web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) inside a native WebView container so the app runs as a website inside a native shell. Example frameworks: Ionic, Apache Cordova.

7. Compare native, cross-platform, and hybrid in terms of performance.

   Native offers the best performance and full API access; cross-platform is close to native (compiled or bridged); hybrid (WebView) generally has the lowest performance because UI renders through a web engine.

8. What is the main advantage of cross-platform frameworks over native development?

   A single shared codebase reduces development time and cost while still targeting both iOS and Android, at some cost to raw performance or platform-specific fidelity.

9. What are the two dominant app distribution models for iOS and Android?

   iOS: the Apple App Store (curated, mandatory review, no official sideloading historically). Android: Google Play Store plus sideloading of APKs and alternative app stores.

10. List common categories used to classify mobile apps.

    Games, social/communication, productivity, utilities, e-commerce/shopping, finance, health/fitness, education, entertainment/media, and news.

11. What is an APK and what platform uses it?

    An APK (Android Package Kit) is the Android app package/installer file format; the modern distribution variant on Play is the AAB (Android App Bundle).

12. What file/package format does Apple use to distribute iOS apps?

    The IPA (iOS App Store Package) file, submitted through App Store Connect after code signing.

13. What components make up a mobile development toolchain?

    An SDK, an IDE/editor, a compiler/build system, an emulator/simulator, a debugger, a package/dependency manager, and version control.

14. What is the difference between an emulator and a simulator in mobile development?

    An emulator (Android) mimics device hardware including the CPU architecture; a simulator (iOS) imitates the software environment on the host but does not emulate real device hardware, so it runs faster but is less hardware-accurate.

15. Name the build/dependency tools for Android and iOS respectively.

    Android uses Gradle for builds; iOS commonly uses CocoaPods or Swift Package Manager (SPM) for dependencies, with Xcode's build system.

16. How do you declare a mutable variable versus a constant in Swift?

    Use var for a mutable variable and let for a constant (immutable binding), e.g. var x = 1 and let y = 2.

17. What is an Optional in Swift and how is it declared?

    An Optional represents a value that may be present or nil. It is declared with a trailing ?, e.g. var name: String?, and is unwrapped with if let, guard let, ??, or force-unwrap (!).

18. What is the difference between a struct and a class in Swift?

    Structs are value types (copied on assignment) and cannot inherit; classes are reference types (shared by reference), support inheritance, and are ARC-managed.

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