Al Francis, 8Layer CTO has delivered a talk at Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Sta. Mesa Manila during the Software and Mobile Development Seminar for Computer Engineering Students last Saturday, March 02, 2019. Al Francis share his knowledge about Hybrid Mobile Application Development and presented a demo to graduating students on how to create an Hybrid App.

Hybrid app basically combines elements of both native and web applications. They are built in similar manner as website that use a combination of technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. However, instead of targeting a mobile browser, hybrid applications target a WebView hosted inside a native container.

According to Al, creating a hybrid app has many advantages. “It’s cheaper than a native app and faster to develop because you have a single code base” , are just few of them. 

Al Francis discussed IONIC, an Open Source Framework for mobile app development and briefly mentioned how he personally love using Open Source technologies and explain why by siting some benefits of Open Source. He also showed to attendees how to install and use Ionic. There are free templates and themes downloadable for students to try. 

During the demonstration, Al teach them how to develop a  simple Hybrid Mobile Application. From installing the software requirements such as Node JS, Android Studio, Apache Cordova, and Ionic, then to building different platforms, managing plugins, emulating Ionic App, and deploying. Attendees are eager to learn more during this part of the presentation. There are few questions asked and some are even taking down notes, until Al told them that he will leave a copy of the codes so they can study more about it.

After the demo, Al Francis encourage every attendees to explore more on Hybrid Mobile Application Development. Sample codes and other materials for learning are available for students so they can study more on the topic.

At the end of the talk, there was a quick question and answer, awarding of certificate, and picture taking. Students and advisers present not only learn about Hybrid Mobile Application Development but also gain valuable insights from real life experience of the speaker and fun commentary from other attendees. It was really an insightful and enjoyable morning for everyone.