Tips for Hiring Top Web Developers By James Tredwell on October 24, 2018 To give a virtual identity to your company and establish contact and enable interaction with the customers it is essential that you have a professional web developer. So, it is very important that you know how to hire the right talent at the outset. An effective hiring of such a professional will facilitate your business and you do not have to spend precious time and money when you want to find any replacements. In order to help you in a proper and fool proof selection there are some tips and guidelines that you must follow. Hire The Apt Person Depending upon your work culture you must hire web developers USAwho will fit into it very well and will not feel out of place. How the person fits into your work environment is essential to work properly and efficiently. Experience of the person comes after that. The web developer must not feel that the curiosity, persistence and determination acts as a negative factor in your company if it is considerably low-key and have a more relaxed way of approach to anything. The Different Approach If you hire a web developer who has worked in a company much bigger that yours then he may not be as efficient as he was before at the start. The simple reason behind this is that the working in bigger companies do not need the features like adaptability, versatility and risk taking personality as the company is already well established. The web developer just has to carry it on from there but if your company is new then these traits will be of much larger importance and will have a greater impact in the success of your company in the long run. So hire employees that sound with your company culture and make a list of the requirements by you for your company and then go for hiring. Trial An Error Method When you think that you have found the right candidate for your company try out to be extra sure. Give the candidate small and less important projects first and observe the actions to gain additional information about efficiency which you cannot get in an interview. You can get a fair idea about the creativity, team handling and communication and the final outcome of the project. Test Aptitude Over Skill When you hire a web developer you must see the aptitude over skill. As there is a lot of change in the technological work every now and then it is essential for a person to effectively adapt with the new trend rather than stick to the old methods only. Ask few questions to the web developer to find out his knowledge about the current trends. Questions on new program techniques, the knowledge of newer place to go for searching new technology tips and tricks can give an ample idea about the adaptability. Be Smart Yourself Friend and colleagues referrals and various IT job search sites are the best place to hire web developers When you hire remember not to ask trivia questions like dates and names which are easy to memorize. Make it a thumb rule to ask questions the answers of which are difficult to find even in the internet. Make them open ended instead and listen to the candidate and find his passion and efficiency in communication. Open ended questions regarding managing conflicts in web application, preference in design patterns and other technology oriented matters are best to judge the aptitude of the web developer. Hire And Fire When you Hire Web Developers you must be extra cautious and take your time but when you find that a person is not performing you must fire as soon as possible so that the others are not affected by the non-performing person. As the product delivery must be perfect and on time there must not be too many absentees and loos in man hour which will affect your productivity adversely.
How Much Does it Cost to Develop an Augmented Reality Mobile App By James Tredwell on September 15, 2018 After the virtual reality (VR) world is witnessing the transition to new technology in the form of augmented reality. Here, developers are coming with all new augmented reality (AR) concepts and developing some amazing AR apps for mobile devices both Android & iOS. While this is considered as costly business, let’s discuss how much it may cost you when you decide to develop augmented reality mobile app for users. AR App Development Process If you are planning to develop an augmented reality app for mobile then there are two ways you can select from. One to hire your own team of developers or second hire a professional agency to do it. There are different pros & cons of doing the same while organizing your own team of professionals is time & efforts consuming task, hiring professional agency may cost you a bit higher. Let’s discuss some basic factors that determine the cost to develop an AR app. Design Coding Testing While design, coding, and testing of an AR app are some of the main determining factors to decide cost to develop an AR app there are other factors too like the location you choose to develop the AR app, the time it takes, conversion rate and other factors. Here, if you prefer to have your work done by Asian countries, it may cost you bit lesser in comparison to hiring professionals from Europe or USA. Let’s first discuss the main three factors here. Design When it comes to the design of the AR app there are numerous factors that affect its cost of development. The app’s design, features and functionality are major factors when it comes to a seamless user experience. In addition to those technical specifications of the app like whether it is the database-based application, list-based application, it is developed with or without a server or API component also affects development cost. In other factors, how creative is AR app’s display and how you can make interactive UI/UX to enhance user experience will determine your app’s success and cost to develop. Coding The next important factor in developing AR app is its coding which is the most difficult & time-consuming step. Here, there are multiple AR-based software features available that differ in implementation methods thus they also differ in cost. The most trivial method is to create an AR app by using the data captured by the gyros inherent to a smartphone. In this Gyroscope data processing method, information that is obtained allows you to create three-dimensional virtual objects and easily superimpose them on top of real environment objects. Next coding method is GPS data processing which relies upon traditional GPS data in addition to Assisted GPS (A-GPS) technology. It is helpful to increase the geolocation precision using your cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Further, you can use simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) functional that processes the data collected from various sensors in conjunction (Gyroscope, GPS, Accelerometer etc.) and help you draw a 3D-model over the surrounding reality. Next in the list is Markers that is one of the most frequently used AR software functions. Here, you can find different types of Markers that starts with simple geometric shapes (for instance QR codes) and ends with rather complex objects such as human faces. Testing Once you are done with coding there comes testing of an app. Here, you need to test your app both by the in-house quality assurance team (alpha testing) and by the volunteers (beta testing). Here, it may take several months to perform this testing, where the application will be returned to developers for multiple times for revisions & updates and tested again. This testing part will also add up in total development cost of an AR app. The cost to develop an AR mobile app As we discussed, there are multiple factors that determine the final cost of developing an AR app for mobile. Here, choosing the platform either Android or iOS may also affect the cost to develop AR app significantly. While developing AR app on iOS is considered to be easy than developing it on Android platform due to its extensive & complicated mechanism. Here, uploading the app to the digital marketplace (App Store or Google Play Store) and promoting it on search engines will also add up the total cost. While you can consider $30 to $150 as the total cost to development per hour based on different parameters and location you choose to develop the app let’s discuss average hours it takes to code the app on different implementation methods. Gyroscope Data Processing: Up to 300 hours GPS Data Processing: At least 600 hours SLAM Functional: 900-1200 hours Markers: 400-500 hours Also, discuss the average cost per hour based on different locations: India: $30 per hour Eastern Europe: $35 per hour South America: $43 per hour United Kingdom: $70 per hour Australia: $110 per hour North America: $150 per hour Conclusion: In addition to the above-mentioned cost for development there will be an additional cost for uploading AR app on digital marketplaces, testing and for maintenance & technical support for the app. Here, we have tried to cover the basic aspects of augmented reality app development and how it may cost you when you decide to develop one. Actual prices may vary according to your project requirement and features you want to add in your augmented reality app. If you are one of those developers who develop augmented reality apps for mobile devices, feel free to comment below. As it may bring you new clients for your business. Description: Being a nascent technology augmented reality (AR) is attracting a lot of users & developers around the world. While the cost to develop an AR app for a mobile device is comparatively high, still, it offers value for money. This article is contributed by Chandra Shekhar Choudhary SEO analyst and technical Content Writer At Systweak Blogs.
How to Create Professional iOS Applications from Scratch By James Tredwell on September 15, 2018 These days, different iOS applications are used by the tech-savvy people. So, there is a great demand for such applications. To be frank, creating and developing iOS applications is a fun and rewarding task. But, if you are new to the iOS development, then you must have questions about where to start. With the help of Mac, you can easily create iOS apps for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. So, in this article, we will discuss all the tools, knowledge and skills for creating applications for iOS! Let’s get started. Required knowledge To program different web projects and for iOS, in particular, one must know Mathematics and logic at first. Although, Modern technologies have saved the programmer from the need to thoroughly know the architecture of the computer, a good command over the basic mechanisms, such as number systems, their conversion, the speed of subroutines or the efficiency of algorithms, etc, helps you a lot. At a higher level, iOS-developers must know the operating system macOS, iOS, the “apple” programming language. Always keep in mind that the Knowledge of Delphi, C ++, C # or VB.NET will not help you at all the times. Apple has its own ecosystem with its own languages: Objective-C and Swift. So, you must learn both. Tools for Development The XCode programming environment is the main developer tool for macOS and iOS. It includes tools for creating applications for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch and all Apple platforms. XCode contains an interface builder and a code editor that supports all modern tools for working with code. Furthermore, you can test the application without leaving XCode if it is developed for an external device and run the emulator easily. You can easily develop applications for macOS Sierra, iOS 10, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10 on Xcode 8. Objective-C language In simple words, Objective-C is a compiled object-oriented programming language which is used to write applications for “apple” systems. It is a superset, inheriting from the latter syntax, data types. In C ++, Objective-C objects with four paradigms- abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism. The C ++ language is strongly typed, whereas Objective-C is weakly typed or has a dynamic data type system. Develop an iOS Application Determine the same of the iOS Application and add a button, pressing which visitors can get the message: “Hello, World”. Start XCode in the window select Create a new project, or in the main menu File -> New -> Project. The next window will prompt you to select the target platform and application type. 2. Choose the Application Type There are different types of applications. Choose one of them as per your specific needs: Types of Applications Brief Explanation The Single View Application It includes the View Controller component, which allows you to customize the application view using the Interface Builder. Master-Detail Application It is a good app here a collection of objects is displayed in a table view. Detailed information about this object is displayed when you choose one of them. With Page-Based Applications Applications with the screen. Tabbed application It allows you to create applications where each screen can be switched at any time. Each screen has its own button to activate it, which displays a title. For instance- iTunes. Sticker Pack Application It is a new kind of application that appeared in iOS 10 and Xcode 8. It is a set of simple or animated images used in the new iMessage. It doesn’t require encoding. iMessage Application It is a new kind of application that appeared in iOS 10 and Xcode 8. It allows you to create add-ons for iMessage. By using the iMessage API, you can create your own analog of this application, including playing audio, video, using stickers and more. 3. Create Your First Project Let’s select the Single View Application and Click Next and enter the name of the project on the next page of the wizard. In the Language drop-down list, leave the default language – Objective-C. Next, in the Devices drop-down list, leave the selection Universal. Here it is determined for which device (iPhone or iPad) an application is created. Universal means both, so define your priorities right. Uncheck the Include Unit Tests and Include UI Tests checkboxes. Next, Choose the folder to save the project and click the Create button. A window is opened with a list of all the parameters applied to the project. You can change the parameters previously set in the wizard: orientation, target device, etc, in the opened window. First of all, you need to create an application interface. To do this, with a single click, select Main. Storyboard in the list on the left. The entire interface will be occupied by Interface Builder the right side of the list. The device layout will be displayed in the center. The Components panel remains in the lower right corner of the window. A list of properties is shown in above the component panel. Select the Label component and set its Text property in the layout: leave the choice of Plain in the drop-down list, in the line below enter the necessary inscription. If the text does not fit into the borders of the label, change them by dragging the markers on the edges of the component. To centralize it horizontally, go to the Size Inspector page by clicking on the Show the Size Inspector button and select Center Horizontally in Container from the Arrange drop-down list. Now select the Button component and change its Text property to the desired label. 4. Create a Link Between Graphic Elements and the Code In Visual Studio, the object in the code is created automatically at the moment when you put the visual component on the form. This does not happen in XCode. Just Open the contents of the ViewController.h header file in a separate window by double-clicking on it. In this file, there is an extension declaration of class UIViewController. It is marked with the keyword @interface. move the mouse cursor over the component – the text label, press the Ctrl key and the left mouse button. Move the cursor to the window with the code (file ViewController.h), the cursor will draw a blue line. Release the mouse and the key inside the ViewController interface description. Then, The Outlet window will appear immediately: This is an object property that references another object, so enter the name of the Outlet object or it will refer to the visual component. Next, the type of the object is selected, it is selected correctly: UILabel. After that, the following line will be added to the code: @property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UILabel *lab; Now create the Outlet for the button using the following code: @property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIButton *but; As a result, have two pointers to the visual components: lab and but – respectively, the inscription and the button. Now, using pointers, you can manipulate the components in the code. Then you need to create an event handler for the button click event. To do this, open the ViewController.m implementation file in a separate window. Exactly, in the same way, as you dragged the line into the header file to create the outlet, from the button drag the line to the implementation file and release it to the closing command bracket – @end. A window will appear for creating an event, similar to the window for creating an outlet. You see the difference: in the header file, a reference to the object is created, in the implementation file there is a method. Fill in the Name field, its value represents the name of the method property. Let it be onClick. Leave the Type field as the default id. In the Event drop-down list, the Touch Up Inside event is selected by default, which occurs when the pointer (mouse, finger …) is released above the button, that is, the final stage of pressing the button. That’s what we need it. In the Arguments list, leave the default value: Sender is the object that sent this signal, in this case, it will always be a button. Click the Connect button. As a result, the following code will be added: – (IBAction)onClick:(id)sender { } Between the parentheses, write the code that executes when the button is pressed: _lab.hidden = !_lab.hidden; Swift Language In 2014, Apple introduced a new programming language – Swift. It quickly became the most discussed and most dynamically developing language in the world. This is a reliable, safe, intuitive language for developing applications for the operating systems macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS for the entire fleet of devices from Apple. Swift is an effective programming language. It’s easier to learn than its predecessor, Objective-C, at the same time Swift has borrowed the most successful ideas from it. At the same time, the developers have made the languages compatible. During the development of Swift, the goal was to create the most convenient system programming language – fast, safe and expressive. The algorithm in Swift works 2.6 times faster than the same algorithm on Objective-C, and 8.4 times faster than in Python. Using Swift makes the programming process more flexible and convenient. Uploading your iOS app on the App Stores Every app developer can create and sell apps for free. For this, you need to register as a developer and buy a license to sell your applications. This is the fee for the provided service. So, register on different app stores, upload your apps and start selling them as far as possible. Final Words The demand for different iOS applications is increasing with each passing day. By following the above-mentioned ways, you can easily iOS apps yourself from scratch and start selling them to the interested customers. This article is contributed by James Row, passionate blogger and professional software developer at Awebstar Technologies Pte Ltd.
7 Things You Should Do to Hire a Skilled Android Developer By James Tredwell on September 15, 2018 Android has been the most popular operating system for mobiles for several years. Due to its raging popularity and a broader reach, most businesses are now interested in building their personalized app on this very platform. This explains why the professional android developers are so much in demand these days. If you are an entrepreneur or a seasoned businessman, you may have also seen the potential of a personalized android app in boosting your business operations. However, before you can make any progress on the development of the Android app, you need the manpower who can execute your idea of an android app. Surprisingly, hiring a proficient android developer is as challenging as finding a needle in the haystack. And this time, you are not the only one who is looking for the needle. As the demand for sophisticated android app tends to grow, the demand for skilled android app developers is also growing significantly. However, you can find the perfect person for the job, if you are prepared to go the distance to recruit the best Android developers in the market. Here are several tricks that can help you guide through the interview process: Ensure your job offer reaches the right people: How are you supposed to find the best in the market, if your offer doesn’t reach a larger population? If you are fine with a decent app developer within your locality, you can have a small advertisement and find a few applicants for the role. In that case, however, your options will be limited. If you are ambitious about your venture and want it to succeed, don’t settle for a mediocre app developer. Get in touch with good recruitment agencies that mediate the hiring process, and ask them to shortlist the good ones. If you compromise on the recruitment of key personnel, you may need to pay larger bills in the longer run. Be certain about the job profile: Numerous potential candidates usually don’t feel confident about applying for a job when the job description does not offer enough insight into the profile. If you are putting up a vague job description, the experienced app developers (especially the good ones) may assume that you lack the sense of professionalism. This often turns off the professionals who are good at their job. To ensure you get all the attention of the skilled and experienced app developers, who are looking for a new opportunity, you should describe what kind of applicants you are looking for. Describe all the technical and non-technical skills that you want in an applicant, and also reveal the CTC and other significant details that the applicants usually want to know before applying for a job. Set up a proficient interview panel: Once you are done advertising for the job profile, you need to prepare for the big interview. Yes, even the interviewers need to prepare to get the right people for the job. If you don’t prepare for the interview, you may end up hiring someone who cannot add any value to your business or the app that you are willing to build. Decide who all are going to be the part of the interview panel. Get some experienced people who don’t just have technical knowledge, but also have the ability to analyze and assess the behavior of the candidate in the interview room. You can sit with the interview panel prior to the day of the interview and discuss what kind of questions you need to ask and what all skills and abilities you are looking for in an applicant. Test the skills of the applicants with some practical work: Since the technical expertise of app-developer matters the most, you need to assess those skills of a candidate before recruiting him or her. These days, a lot of people lie on their resume, just to impress the interviewers. So it becomes really important for you, as a recruiter, to test anyone who you think can be a great asset to your team. Technical questions are one way to test the skills of the applicant. However, it will be more fruitful if you can ask the interviewee to demonstrate his/her skills practically during the interview. Ask the person to finish a test project with minimal functions to see how proficient he/she is. As you may realize, the qualification and past experiences won’t matter if the applicant is not seamless with the technical skills. Consider the freelancers also: While you are considering the conventional way of recruiting a full-time app developer by arranging an interview in the office, you can also keep the options open for the freelancers. In the recent times, freelancers have been more active than the regular office-goers in terms of productivity. Though most freelancers like to work on their own terms, they can also be a great contender for the job. If you keep the job opportunity open for the freelancers as well, it will allow you toexplore the option beyond the geographical boundaries. As you may realize, in the case of freelancers, the location does not matter. What matters is how they perform. You can set up an online interview with the interested freelancers and proceed with the same approach that you plan for the conventional interview option. You may need to make slight changes in the questionnaire and the assessments, but the key objective of the interview remains the same. Review the previous work of the applicants: As you progress into the interview process, you need to dig more into the work experience of the applicant to have a better understanding of his/her performance as an android developer. Assess all the significant works the applicant has done in the recent past. How long he/she has been in this profession, what all organizations he/she has been associated with, and what are the significant achievements that he/she has made in the career – have a thorough background check. Since Android development is one of the most popular categories in the sector, it is quite common among the professionals to develop multiple apps within the span of 3-4 years. See if the applicant, you are interviewing, have developed an app recently. If the answer is yes, review the app and ask the person app-related questions to get a better understanding of his/her expertise. Explain all the responsibilities to the candidate: Now that the person has passed all the test and you are willing to hire the individual for the job, it is your turn to convince the applicant why he should join your company. Well, the employers do not usually express their interest in the interview room. However, exceptions can be made if the candidate himself/herself is exceptionally talented. Discuss the job profile and explain the office culture. If the candidate is a freelancer, make sure he/she has a complete understanding of the work and his/her role in the organization. As you may realize, good candidates, are always in demand. So if the candidate has walked into your office and given an interview, make sure you can keep that individual inside your company. If a rival organization offers a better job profile or a better salary package, you may lose the gem of an android developer. As you can see, the recruitment of an Android developer is a multi-step process. Since it is a technical job, you need to be very particular about the details that the applicant shares during the interview. Your company’s success will rely on the efficacy of the person. So, make the right choice while hiring an Android developer for your company. This article is contributed by Siena William , Writing Expert at Assignment Help.
How Swift is Shaping Modern iOS App Development By James Tredwell on September 15, 2018 The mobile phone app industry has been experiencing an upsurge of products with apps cropping up almost every second. Developers all over the globe are hard at work releasing applications they hope the market with receive with enthusiasm. Apple took up the challenge to help make iOS application development a lot easier by introducing Swift in 2014. It is an intuitive and authoritative programming language you can use to develop apps for all Apple products. The language is as a result of deep research on programming languages and years of coming up with Apple platforms. It came in to replace Objective-C that has been in existence since 1984. While most people think that it is only good for iPhones and iOS, you will be glad to note that the language can also code for iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. The launch of Swift helped shape development of iOS apps positively in numerous ways. It’s no wonder many big brands jumped into the bandwagon to develop their apps using Swift. Examples of such include: LinkedIn. Lyft. Uber. Airbnb and many more. Let’s take a look at how Lyft took advantage of the programming language for their ride-hailing app. How Lyft Benefitted From Swift Lyft is an example of a company that decided to try out the newly launched programming language for their app. They did this by re-writing their entire iPhone app in Swift. Chris Lambert the company’s CTO explained that although it was a huge risk, it was well calculated in that Apple hinted that it was the future. He was grateful that the investment paid off in a significant manner. He reports that in just twelve months after rewriting the iPhone app, it has become highly functional. It adds new features faster while at the same time drastically reduces the time it takes to open the application. Most importantly, Lambert says that it has worked well for the business. More iPhone users request for Lyft rides. He adds that the company has been able to double the lines of code that power their app because developers are more productive working with the new language. After reading about this success story, let us go back to learning some of the ways that Swift is making changes to developing iOS apps. #1. It Reduces Development Time Developers whether novice or experienced appreciate a programming language that they can read without any difficulty. Swift offers this because it comes with a clean syntax, which makes the process of reading, writing and modifying a lot easier. It also has fewer code lines to implement an option. The reason behind this is that it gets rid of legacy conversions. Experts agree that it comes close to resembling plain English making the entire process more natural. This results in saving both time and money making the process of app development more fun. Below is an example of a simple syntax using the “For-In” method with Swift. With this programming language, you do not need to add any semicolons at the end of parenthesis when working with conditional statements. It helps to eliminate different types of mistakes that would crop up especially using Objective-C. #2. Swift is Low-Maintenance Developing an app and releasing it to users is not the end of the journey. You have to keep updating for users to continue enjoying using for the longest possible time. While using C, developers had to maintain two code files if they wanted to enhance the efficiency of the code. It is a thing of the past with Swift because it combines implementation (.m) and. (h) files into a single (.swift) file as seen below. #3. It Offers Functional Programming Swift embraces high-order functions like filter, map, flatMap, and reduces for iOS app development. To understand how this simplifies your code here is an example: // Add 5 to each number in an array, and return the even results let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] // The traditional, imperative way varnewNumbers: [Int] = [] for number in numbers { let newNum = number + 5 if newNum % 2 == 0 { newNumbers.append(newNum) } } // The functional, declarative way varnewNumbersFP = numbers.map{ $0 + 5 }.filter { $0 % 2 == 0 } These high order functions are highly beneficial in that they help individuals not only read but understand difficult functional programming. They also assist developers to enhance programming language skills to write more elegantly. #4. It Is Built for Safety Safety is a number one priority for anyone looking to come up with an app. You will not have to deal with any unsafe codes when working with Swift. It also makes use of the latest programming conventions to assist in maintaining watertight security on the apps. Note that the programming language enables a person to define valuables as value types or optional types. It implies that a professional developer has the freedom to define whether the value exists or it is null (nil). It means that should a developer take nil optional value by mistake, the programming language will trigger a runtime crash. This remains on the line of code forcing the developer to take care of any bugs immediately. Bottom line is that Swift does not open up any chances for you to develop harmful bugs or exception-free applications. #5. Open Source In 2015, Apple announced that the programming language was Open Source. It was a welcome move by a majority of the developers because it means that Swift can be used across different platforms and for backend infrastructure as well. It is among the primary reasons many developers prefer to use it instead of other available programming languages. It is safe to state that the decision from Apple contributed significantly to Swift’s development and adoption. It is among the top programming languages in the globe. The way things are going, it will soon occupy the first position and remain there for a while. #6. Experiment Possibilities Swift comes with a playground mode that individuals can take advantage of to work on some application concepts. It makes things a lot easier because it gives you a real picture of how the app will turn out, so that you can know whether to proceed or work on a more viable project. It is vital to add that the programming language supports dynamic libraries. These refer to executable bits of code that developer’s link to an application. It permits current Swift apps to link with fresher versions of the language in future years as it evolves. You can download the libraries to the memory directly. The move will increase the performance of the app, since it cuts down the original size. #7. Easy to Understand Swift is not exclusive to developers who have had years of experience in the field. Its documentation is pretty forthright, which means that anyone can take advantage of it to end up with a top-notch app. It is an interesting read that explains things in a straightforward manner with helpful examples. You can use Swift docs as a reference to uncover plenty of beneficial material. There is also an active online community where you can get assistance when you have questions. Many people agree that in less than four months, you should be able to realize your dream of making fantastic apps easily with Swift. There are limitless reasons why you should consider using open-source Apple’s Swift for iOS app development including speed, ease of use and security. Trust that it will give you the results you want whether you are an expert developer or just want to build apps as a hobby. This article is contributed by Patel Nasrullah , co-founder at Peerbits.