Developing Mobile Applications for Multiple Platforms

Developing software for mobile devices requires special attention, and it still requires more large effort compared to software development for desktop computers and servers. With the introduction and popularity of wireless devices, the diversity of the platforms has also been increased. There are different platforms and tools from different vendors such as Microsoft, Sun, Nokia, SonyEricsson and many more. Because of the relatively low-level programming interface, software development (e.g. for Symbian) platform is a tiresome and error prone task, whereas Android and Windows Mobile contains higher level structures. This keynote introduces the problem of the software development for incompatible mobile platforms. Moreover, it provides a Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and Domain Specific Modeling Language (DSML)-based solution. We will also discuss the relevance of the model-based approach that facilitates a more efficient software development because the reuse and the generative techniques are key characteistics of model-based computing. In the presented approach, the platform-independence lies in the model transformation. This keynote illustrates the creation of model compliers on a metamodeling basis by a software package called Visual Modeling and Transformation System (VMTS), which is a multipurpose modeling and metamodel-based transformation system. A case study is also presented on how model compilers can be used to generate user interface handler code for different mobile platforms from the same platform-independent input models.