Programming has always been a very important aspect of our lives. At first, it was something cool that we didn’t really understand but nevertheless wanted to mess with. Whether it was making games with Processing or writing code to help with math problems, we saw it as a fun tool. In sophomore year, two of us took AP Computer Science in order to really build and expand on our knowledge. During this time, we also participated in programming competitions such as the USACO, where we have qualified in the silver and gold divisions. At the end of year, our final project was to make a mobile application that notified people in BB&N about their current classes and schedule. We also wanted it to be flexible for schedule changes and capable of notifying students about school wide events with push notifications. While much of the actual logic and backend was completed for the final project, we continued to fix some bugs throughout the summer. We felt that with more people and ideas, we could make this app better and thus the idea of a Mobile Application Development club, or M.A.D. club was conceived.
Going forward, we have a member working on a better UI for the application. The rest of the club is discussing possible future features relating to the app. We would like to make it possible for all schools to use, not just BB&N. We are considering adding a lunch menu feature as well. Besides the BB&N app, we are also discussing other projects such as games. The club time is used to bounce ideas and communicate plans; actual coding occurs behind the scenes. Club members demonstrate code and teach newcomers as well. Currently we meet on Tuesdays and we are considering meeting on Thursdays to get more time to communicate. For us, it’s really cool to have a direct impact in a community and create applications that people can use to make their lives more efficient. At the same time, we like to have a little fun too– so we mess around and design games.
-Members of the Upper School Mobile App Development Club
