Table of Contents A Brief History of Apps Forward Fast 4 Touch Screens and Downloads Magic on the Screen 10 Artists at Work Pleasing the Eye 18 Coding Everyone’s Invited 24 Going Global Colleagues in Distant Corners 32 The Engineering Process Finding a Solution 38 Ways to Get in the Field 45 Glossary 46 Index 47 Show What You Know 47 Websites to Visit 47 About the Author 48
A Brief History of Apps Forward Fast Are you looking for the best ice cream shop Eager to see how your friend’s haircut turned out Hoping there’s a game to help you study for that test tomorrow You probably turn to an app in all those situations and many more Let’s explore how the world of apps is connected with the world of STEAM Without science technology engineering art and math no one would ever have even seen an app Technology today provides an app for just about anything you can think of 4
And just what is an app Less than forty years ago only computer programmers used that word It was a shorter way to refer to computer applications or software Back then almost all telephones were connected with wires and you had to be at your office or home to make or answer a call Just a small percentage of offices and almost no homes had computers Then new technologies began to transform our daily lives Cellular phones were invented that could be carried with you everywhere you went Computers became smaller and cheaper every year and eventually became a part of nearly every business and household The Internet evolved into a system linking almost all the computers around the globe Banking and medical services available through cell phones and the Internet have improved the lives of people in developing countries 5
