The currently mainstream mobile application development became part of several programming classes, and courses are being developed focused on mobile app development. There are fundamental differences in programming topics for mobile, including the small screen and finger-based interactions, connectivity using different communication channels, and a large number of sensors. Because of these differences, there is a need to explore different approaches to teach the concepts of mobile development. Integrated approaches and collaborative learning are key to handle the multi-platform environment of mobile development and the diversity of its devices. One practice that has been used in educational contexts for collaborative learning is Pair Programming (PP); an approach that features two developers working on the same development task. Since it became popular in the 1990s, Pair Programming (PP) has been used by developers who worked on desktop and web applications. During the past two decades, PP has been studied in both industrial and classroom settings. Several studies have shown that PP is a pedagogical tool that can help students enhance their productivity and performance. However, PP has not been studied for mobile development courses before. With the challenging nature of mobile development topics, we saw potential benefits for pair-based learning. To cover the challenges of mobile development, we developed an approach that integrates Lectures, hands-on Tutorials, and in-class Pair Programming (PP) sessions (the LTP approach). Although PP has been studied previously in classroom settings, LTP provides an adapted version that better fits the requirements of mobile application development. Integrating PP as a core element of mobile development classes aims at giving opportunities to students to collaborate, share experiences, and solve problems together. Moreover, providing multiple teaching approaches ensures that students would benefit from the variety of education methods. The LTP approach aims at helping Computer Science (CS) educators to develop curricula and manage classes for teaching mobile app development. / Ph. D.

Abstract Mobile peer-to-peer (P2P) networks have emerged as a substrate for distributed wireless Internet applications. With P2P systems, it is possible to share resources such as data storage space, media files, network bandwidth, or computing power among the devices, which participate in the network, without large and expensive centralised server machines. However, the special characteristics of the mobile environment such as the low computational power, changing network conditions, and limited battery life pose several challenges for the fluent operation of mobile devices in P2P networks; this is also in part affected by the complexity of distributed P2P systems. Software development for mobile devices and the design of mobile networking systems are challenging due to the limited device resources and heterogeneous software platforms. Moreover, the energy consumption of a mobile device, and the network-wide routing efficiency that affects for example the resource lookup performance, depend on multiple variable parameters. P2P application development can be facilitated, however, by using middleware, which hides the complexity of networking from the application programmers. The research contributions of this thesis can be classified into three categories: (1) Novel functionalities of mobile middleware are proposed. One of these is a cross-layer connectivity management framework, which aims to select the best combination of network technology entities in a specific usage situation; the selection is made by logic contained in a replaceable state machine. Another new functionality is a system, which installs a missing application for the user, when the user receives a session request from another user. A signalling system based on the cellular USSD protocol is also presented; the system facilitates the establishment of a P2P connection with a mobile device, whose IP-based network connection is off. Moreover, the suitability of the P2PSIP protocol for implementing wireless distributed services is analysed. (2) P2P-related measurement studies are presented. In them, the message routing efficiency of a P2PP protocol implementation and the network traffic load caused by the messaging are observed, and the energy consumption incurred by the same implementation in a mobile device is measured. In addition, a server-based testbed system used in these measurements is described. (3) Experience-backed guidelines for mobile middleware development are presented. These include practical instructions for software development on a restricted mobile platform, and guidelines and observations related to cross-platform software development. / Tiivistelmä Mobiilit vertaisverkot (P2P) ovat uusi alusta hajautetuille langattomille Internet-sovelluksille. P2P-järjestelmien avulla on mahdollista jakaa resursseja kuten tiedon tallennustilaa, mediatiedostoja, verkon kaistanleveyttä tai laskentatehoa laitteiden kesken, jotka osallistuvat verkkoon, ilman suuria ja kalliita keskitettyjä palvelinkoneita. Mobiiliympäristön erityispiirteet kuten vähäinen laskentateho, vaihtelevat verkko-olosuhteet ja rajallinen akkukesto asettavat kuitenkin useita haasteita sujuvalle mobiililaitteiden vertaisverkkokäytölle; tähän vaikuttaa osaltaan myös hajautettujen P2P-järjestelmien monimutkaisuus. Mobiililaitteiden ohjelmistokehitys ja mobiiliverkkojärjestelmien suunnittelu on haastavaa rajallisten laiteresurssien ja epäyhtenäisten ohjelmistoalustojen vuoksi. Lisäksi mobiililaitteen energiankulutus ja koko P2P-verkon reititystehokkuus, joka vaikuttaa esimerkiksi resurssien hakutehokkuuteen, riippuvat useista muuttuvista parametreista. P2P-sovelluskehitystä voidaan kuitenkin helpottaa käyttämällä välikerrosohjelmistoja, jotka kätkevät verkon käytön monimutkaisuuden sovellusohjelmoijilta. Tämän väitöskirjan tutkimuksellinen uutuusarvo voidaan jakaa kolmeen osa-alueeseen: (1) Uusia toiminnallisuuksia mobiileihin välikerrosohjelmistoihin esitellään. Eräs näistä on verkkokerrosten välinen yhteydenhallintajärjestelmä, jossa pyritään valitsemaan tietyssä käyttötilanteessa paras verkkotekniikoiden yhdistelmä; valinnan tekee vaihdettavien tilakoneiden sisältämä logiikka. Toinen uusi toiminnallisuus on järjestelmä, joka asentaa puuttuvan sovelluksen käyttäjälle, kun käyttäjä saa toiselta käyttäjältä pyynnön ryhtyä yhteysjaksoon tämän kanssa. Myös soluverkkojen USSD-protokollaan perustuva signalointijärjestelmä esitellään; järjestelmän avulla helpotetaan P2P-yhteydenmuodostusta sellaisen mobiililaitteen kanssa, jonka IP-pohjainen verkkoyhteys on poissa päältä. Lisäksi P2PSIP-protokollan soveltuvuutta langattomien hajautettujen palvelujen toteuttamiseen analysoidaan. (2) Esitellään P2P-mittaustutkimuksia. Näissä havainnoidaan P2PP-protokollatoteutuksen viestien reititystehokkuutta ja viestien aiheuttamaa verkkoliikennekuormaa sekä mitataan saman toteutuksen aiheuttamaa energiankulutusta mobiililaitteessa. Lisäksi kuvaillaan mittauksissa hyödynnetty palvelinpohjainen testausjärjestelmä. (3) Esitetään kokemuksiin perustuvia neuvoja mobiilien välikerrosohjelmistojen kehitystyötä varten. Nämä sisältävät käytännöllisiä ohjeita rajoitetulla mobiilialustalla tapahtuvaan ohjelmistokehitykseen sekä neuvoja ja havaintoja liittyen yhtäaikaiseen useiden kohdealustojen ohjelmistokehitykseen.

The purpose of this master thesis is to test an individual influence of separate factors on a mobile software development company’s position in a rating of Top Grossing applications in Asian countries, explain how these factors could be interpreted from a modified 4P framework perspective and understand how a mobile developer can adjust its strategy based on the identified factors. The research is based on a ranking data of 90 finance management applications for iPhone on the App Store of China, South Korea and Japan. The hypotheses about an existence of causal relationships between the identified factors and software’s position in the rating of Top Grossing finance mobile applications were tested. The research is based on a multiple regression analysis, conducted separately on the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese markets.   In the findings of the research the authors state that a position of financial mobile software in the Apple App Store rating of Top Grossing applications is determined by a unique set of factors, which vary across the studied Asian markets, while a number of factors converge. The models designed for the markets of China, South Korea and Japan allow to identify which factors can potentially elevate the position of an application in the rating of the most profit generating financial programs (Top Grossing rating) and based on that gain an understanding of the way a mobile software company’s marketing strategy could be adjusted to better meet customers’ needs on the studied markets.   The originality of this master thesis is in the development of a new approach to the analysis of a mobile software development company’s performance regarding its position in Top Grossing ranking. Since the market of mobile applications emerged only in 2008 the factors influencing the performance of mobile developing companies have not been theoretically discussed before.