Blog Directory

Top Ranking Military Apps

Top Ranking Military Apps

Modern technology has brought a great deal of comfort to our lives. And mobile phone technology has emerged as a windfall for all and sundry in this day and age. When it comes to cellular technology, the significance of apps cannot be ruled out.

In today’s world, apps are ubiquitous and have become an inseparable part of our lives. Even for the military people and their families, some apps have turned out to be extremely useful; they are replete with all kinds of information about the latest weaponry, soldiers, and cutting-edge equipment — all just a tap away.

Therefore, we have a list of top-ranking defence tech apps that are essential for the people on the battlefield. Let’s take a look.

MilGPS

MilGPS is developed by an Australian software developer, Karl Urdevics for SAR personnel, soldiers, and professional navigators all across the globe. The app makes the use of United States National Grid (USNG) and Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) to plot locations on the map.

The prominent features of this military app include the display of real-time locations with and without cellular signals. The app also helps military men to create and navigate waypoints of their choice. It is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and needs iOS 8.0 version or above.

iSurvive

iSurvive serves as the tech-based survival manual for military men as it has a set of necessary information such as signaling, communication, evasion, medical aid, procurement of food and water, navigation, and personal protection. The app contains educational content that is displayed as the survival manual for the users.

iSurvive was created by a software developer in Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) and it is supported by iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone and it requires 2.2 or later versions of iOS.

Tactical NAV

Ace software developers created Tactical NAV as a military-grade GPS navigation platform for military men, first responders, law enforcement officials, and search-and-rescue (SAR) teams. It uses MRGS to map locations with high military accuracy and graphics.

The idea for the development of this app was presented by a US Army soldier when he was deployed in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. Tactical NAV enables the user to make safe transfers, locations, and waypoints via email, Facebook, and text messages. The app is available in iTunes App, Store, and Google Play.

Military Pay

To make transactions easier and monthly budgeting smoother, Military Pay allows military men to keep a check on their base pay and the amount of money that mostly comes into their bank account. What they need to do is enter their information in the app and they are good to go. The app can also be updated when necessary. The app also helps military men to keep track of their extra bonuses such as hazard pay and flight pay.

Avenza Maps Pro

Avenza Maps Pro is one of the recommended apps for military and Intelligence communities all over the world. It is a mobile mapping app used for offline mapping and navigation. The app can be downloaded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) personnel.

Developed by Avenza Systems, a software development company, this app has high-quality tools which allow the user to download maps on offline mode for offline applications. It uses the GPS of the host’s device to provide location in remote areas and without having an internet connection.

The Bottom Line

Military technology is an extensive field that has wealth of information on defence tech, and military-grade apps play a central role in its digitalization. These applications serve as the best battlefield tools that are of great significance in a military environment.

 

Saima Naz

Oct 18, 2021

What is Personal Branding

What is Personal Branding

Branding has always been a business-oriented concept for us.

We have heard people talking about branding as a medium to establish their name in the world. That’s true. But this idea is not limited to businesses only.

In today’s world, anything can be a brand. You, as a person can become a brand if you know the right way of doing it. A brand can be a place like Disney Land or a person like Elon Musk or Imran Khan. Do you know what has worked in their favor? They know the art of personal branding.

First, let’s discuss what is personal branding

What is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is the practice of marketing yourself in a way that gains you recognition. With the help of personal branding, you become a household name if you stick to the reputation and impression you have created.

KFC was originated in 1952 and to date, it is the name everyone in the world is familiar with. Yes, it is due to the quality of the food they have worked on but also the how they have branded themselves all these years.

If I ask you what is that one thing you want to be remembered for?

Even if there is one thing that comes to your head, maybe you can work on it for your personal branding. Personal branding is a combination of your skills, experience, and how you promote yourself. All of these properties combined can make you bring your or your brand into a leading light.

You do not necessarily have to own a business to initiate your personal brand. You can use your personal story or what inspired you into going big. It is the online world and all you need are smart strategies and a sense of creativity to brand yourself in a magnanimous way. It is a slow process but it is worthwhile.

Why is Personal Branding necessary?

1.      Builds your audience

With the help of personal branding, you gain a larger audience that you or your brand requires. How can you do it?

You may start by making Facebook ads, create videos that promote you or the services your brand provides, and so on. Make the best use of content marketing to win in the digital world, this alone can help you earn a larger audience.

2.     Gain recognition

The purpose of personal branding is to gain recognition. Marvel Cinematic Universe, Justin Trudeau, Titanic, Game of Thrones, Roger Federer. These are some of the countless names everyone knows of. Although they are different in every way. Their agenda, their profession, their idea, their genre, all have probably nothing in common. But everyone knows them.

They have created awareness about themselves. They have worked hard on personal branding for people to know that they are the big shots. Your objective, your stance, and your agenda are one of the few things that will set you apart and give you the recognition you truly deserve.

3.     You are easy to find

Personal branding increases your reach and allows you to be found by the audience.

It helps our audience reach out to you and avail your services or understand what it is for them to learn from. Even if the world knows who you are yet they do not know how to find you indicates that you have not touched the finish line.

Take personal branding as a tool to let people connect with you, understand your objective, pay attention to you, and get inspired.

As much as personal branding is imperative, there are myths are surrounding the idea of personal branding that prevents people from practicing it. Let’s discuss a few myths about personal branding and bust them to empower you to go for it.

Myths about Personal Branding

1. Personal branding being famous

There is a misconception that everyone’s objective is to get famous via personal branding. It is not like that; you do not become a celebrity by personal branding. It just helps you achieve your respective goal. You can influence people and keep your privacy intact.

2. It is unnecessary

Some people believe that skills alone are enough and you do not have to promote yourself. Well, this is not how the world works now.

Skills alone are the half-won battle. People must be aware of your skills or what you have to offer and personal branding enables you to achieve that. When people talk about you or your brand behind your back, that’s when you know how important it is to educate people about you or your brand.

3. It’s a hype

If you believe that personal branding is a new trend in the market that will die down with time, you need to recall a few names such as Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley, or a historic event such as World War. These names are even older than you and I are but people know about them. Why? Because they have been planned and branded this way.

In a nutshell

Like every other job, building a personal brand is not a piece of a cake too but if you do it right with the right intentions and planning, you can achieve your desired goal through it. Stay focused as to what you want out of your personal brand and work on it, you will certainly get there.

Saima Naz

Sep 10, 2021

Why is Vue.js a popular framework?

Why is Vue.js a popular framework?

The JavaScript ecosystem is awash with options, with several reliable web development frameworks and libraries to choose from. One of these frameworks is Vue.js, which is gaining considerable traction these days.

There are tools such as frameworks that are available for developers’ ease, paving the way for a strong development process. Simply put, the language is a building block and the framework is the architecture. It helps developers’ lives easier and allows them to build the structure and maintain it well.

You must be familiar with the JavaScript framework and market trends. The main in the list of JS framework is React and Angular. Additionally, Vue.js is one of the core JS frameworks that have shown substantial progress of 229% in the span of a few years.

If you are interested in learning about Vue.js, this blog is the perfect place for you to be. So, let’s get started.

What is Vue.js?

Vue.js was developed in 2014 by Evan You with the help of different ideas from other frameworks.

Vue.js is one of the popular frameworks for JavaScript that is designed to create web interfaces and one-page applications. Vue.js is used for both desktop and mobile app developments by making the use of the Electron framework.

Vue.js is the preferred front-end tool as it has a JS base and the HTML extension to make it superior to others. It is used for constructing frameworks and to build user interfaces. Vue.js was built with the idea of making it completely adaptable, unlike the rest of the monolithic frameworks available.

Its main library highlights the view layer only and it presents an easy pathway to be incorporated with the rest of the libraries or pre-existing tasks. Vue smoothly runs a Single-Page application that is combined with modern tooling and supporting libraries.

This framework has a unique name to it, Vue, which sounds like the English word “view”. It has been named this way as the view depicts the UI of an application and the library of Vue.js has its major emphasis on the view layer by default.

Why is Vue.js important?

There are many factors behind the much-acclaimed popularity of Vue.js. However, the basic reason is that Vue.js offers a simple and smooth development process. Not only that, the learning curve increases twofold with the help of the framework.

Vue.js is considered easy and flexible with high efficiency. It has a wide variety of genius tools along with the Vuex (a state management pattern) and routing possibilities (Vue Router).

The framework gives an amazing speed to the development with the help of easy and plugins that are ready to use. This enables it to be a problem solver and stay cost-efficient for product development.

Let’s take a detailed look as to what are the highlighting factors of Vue.js?

What makes Vue.js a go-to framework?

1.     The ecosystem

The ecosystem of Vue.js is formulated quite clearly. This presents as a huge benefit to the developers who use this framework allowing them to pick a solution for every problem diligently. Now, developers do not have to waste their time in choosing the right and effective framework as Vue.js is readily available.

Although the main focus of Vue.js is the view layer, however, by using Vuex, Vue CLI, Vue Router, and Vue Test Utils, it offers a great deal of solutions to basic development concerns. It not only provides higher speed to the developers but also joins projects together.

The ecosystem of Vue.js is also adaptable that enables it to be an excellent choice for all your development tasks.

2.    Easy framework

Developers prefer Vue.js because it is the easiest one to learn and practice. Developers tend to start learning from this framework and once they get a good hang of it, they master it like a pro.

All one needs to do is get some JavaScript lines to start with a bit of HTML. Vue.js polishes developers’ skills by enhancing the potential of every learner and transforming them into one amazing development team.

3.    For AngularJS and ReactJS

Vue.js was built with the idea of overcoming the weak points of AngularJS but when combined, it was discovered that it is the best and the desired attribute for the two: AngularJS and ReactJS.

With the help of Angular, Vue.js helped enhanced the syntax in the ongoing projects, and React gave Vue the finest approach, a speedy and efficient performance, component-based method, and the most important part is the understanding of the crucial aspects of the management of apps and web development.

4.    Time-efficient

Vue.js saves the time of developers. With the help of Vue CLI, a system that is built to support the Vue Cire Team which assists in time reduction of the procedure.

Vue CLI’s third version is a different world. It assists the project by providing solutions to the set of question regarding the project that helps the app development to be right on schedule.

Bottom Line

Developers have always given positive feedback about Vue.js. They say that it is a fun and brilliant framework that strengthens the development. The learning curve of this framework has enabled developers to be the best in their game.

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Saima Naz

Aug 24, 2021

Role of Business Analyst in an IT Company

Role of Business Analyst in an IT Company

To cater to the needs of an IT business, it requires legions of professionals to be able to execute the needful. As the IT industry is growing, working with other companies, and taking care of a big international clientele, there have to be experienced people on board to strengthen the efficiency of the business and generate maximum revenue.

One such role includes Business Analyst in an IT company. First, let us understand who business analysts are, why you need them in an IT sector, and how they help in the betterment of the systems and operations.

Who is a Business Analyst?

BA or Business Analyst is essentially involved in taking care of the structure of the business. BA plays the role of a mediator between the business requirements and IT to help enhance the overall productivity of the IT business.

Business analyst in an IT company improves every product, service, or process with the help of software applications by analyzing data properly. When the gap between IT and the business is efficiently bridged, that’s where the BA is applauded.

Moreover, BAs are also responsible for the proper employment of software applications and the latest technology tools to upgrade entire business operations and structure. This helps in the transformation and evaluation of the challenges the business may face in the future.

What is the Role of a Business Analyst?

1.     Research

A Business Analyst conducts research and executes them to understand and achieve business goals. This includes the research of developing prototypes, your market competitors, the documentation, the analysis of the documentation, and coordinating with the experts responsible for the project.

With a whole lot of necessary data and research, they gather the information and arrange the meetings with the stakeholders such as end-users, senior management, sponsors, and customers.

2.    A link between developers and stakeholders

A business analyst is a link between developers and stakeholders. At times, they run the team of developers and work as the lead to deal with the projects’ stakeholders in an IT company. A BA’s job description is also to assess every requirement and demand of the stakeholder and to understand the bigger picture in order to comprehend product specification and what has to be delivered as the end result.

They are the source that needs to get the raw information from a customer or a client and carry out surveys and interviews to deliver what is required from the team.

3.    User acceptance test

Business Analysts are sometimes not part of the final testing of the product as software testers are on board to carry out the test. The result of the test ensures the life of the product and if it can flourish for the benefit of any IT company.

At times, business analysts also take care of the user acceptance test in software development projects to highlight the user support and management on the project.

4.    Preparation of documents

Once business analysts understand the requirements of the project, their next step is to prepare formal written documents. When the document is prepared, it is shared with every stakeholder to ensure transparency of the process.

How you present what you create is equally important to its creation. Hence, BAs act as the greater benefit when they have the understanding and expertise of presenting the end product correctly to the client.

5.     Coordination with Developers

When the project initializes in an IT company, it first goes to the stakeholders who establish their requirements and expectations from the project. Once the requirements are approved, the business analyst coordinates with the developers to give them a better idea of what needs to be done.

For developers in an IT company, BAs are the guide to take the help from in the whole process. They ask them questions and discuss their queries for further clarity of the task.

6.    Evaluation of the process

One more thing that falls into a business analyst’s job description is to supervise the business process. The features, functions, requirements, domain, and more are the important fields that need a business analyst’s attention.

BA introduces new tools and features in the business resources to modify the process. This implies that an IT business analyst can enhance, modify, and amplifies the project execution if he or she knows how to introduce new features and how to make smart use of the pre-existing ones.

7.     Multiple projects

IT business analysts work on more than one project at a time. They supervise multiple projects and expand their system by dipping their toes into various tasks simultaneously. They handle the larger scope of the business by participating in the pre-project analysis and help provide the opportunity for strategic addition to the process.

Bottom Line

If you plan to pursue a business analyst career path, we hope that these guidelines have proved to be of great help for you. IT business analysts can offer you great professional growth. All you need is a great place to start and correct guidance.

Saima Naz

Jun 18, 2021

Git Branching Model: Types, Pros & Cons

Git Branching Model: Types, Pros & Cons

Git is the finest tool that provides a great feature on the virtual front. It controls the information for the code of when and how they can be properly kept. Git is presented as a distributed tool and can allow you to get the bonus changes upon collaboration with a series of repositories.

What is a Git Branching Model?

A git branching model outlines the branding strategy Git entails. It explains how and when a developer can make alterations according to their needs and connect them to your codebase.

Git branching model showcases the simple tricks to accelerate the process of feedback delivery to developers. The major purpose of the Git branching model is to develop the patterns that are designed to conquer the challenges that you can construct with Git.

Types of Git Branching Models

Here are some of the Git branching models along with their pros and cons.

1.      Git Flow Branching Model

Git Flow consists of two essential branches:

  • Main branch or Master branch
  • Development branch

The main branch acts as the production branch. The code placed in this branch is considered to be the most stable.

While the function of the development branch is to integrate all the changes that are required in the system. First, the code is tested, and then it is merged with the main branch.

The branching strategy you choose decides the supporting branches that will be involved in the process such as release branches, feature branches, and hotfixes, to name a few.

Pros of Git Flow

The Git Flow is the best model for the development lifecycle as it assists in the stability of a release. This allows the developers to follow a pattern that is specifically designed for each. The trick is to keep the development branch and main branch separately for the safety of your production code.

Cons of Git Flow

Since there is no association of the branches, it gives a troublesome history to comprehend the cause of issues that may occur. It creates problems for the developers as Git Flow complexity takes quite some time in the merging process even if fewer merge conflicts are causing the delay in the release.

2.     GitLab Flow Branching Model

GitLab Flow highlights the future-oriented development procedures.

What sets GitLab apart from the Git Flow branching model?

The main difference that helps differentiate GitLab from Git Flow is the issue tracking feature and the environment it is set in.

In GitLab Flow, the main branch is the base branch. To work on codes, the developers have to utilize the feature branch. This further proceeds with the pull request when the task is complete. When it is approved, the changes are then merged into the main branch. Subsequently, they are taken out in the environment for testing purposes.

Teams who make use of the GitLab model require a pre-production environment, staging area, and post-production environment.

Pros of GitLab

GitLab is the safe haven for premature codes as it allows us to keep them separate. This presents as a huge advantage, unlike Git Flow where the history is cleaned.

GitLab helps in ruling out the issues in the main branch in case of finding them out in the production phase.

GitLab gives complete transparency between code and the issue tracker. This allows in detecting errors and keeping a record of the history.

Cons of GitLab

With the variety of environments in the GitLab, it gets a little tricky to implement CI/CD. Hence, when the code goes through a multitude of staging areas, the delay in the release is expected.

3.    GitHub Flow Branching Model

In simpler terms, GitHub Flow is a more straightforward and easier version of Git Flow. It is best suited for smaller groups as is there is no task for the management for several environments and versions.

The process begins with the main branch that is checked by developers to perform their respective tasks. Once the change is complete, it opens up a pull quest, the work is assessed and, on its basis, it is merged back to the main.

The GitHub flow branching model has similar properties as the trunk-based development.

Pros of Git Hub flow

GitHub is easy and quite light which helps in the workflow for CI/CD. It is perfect for smaller teams because they are mainly automating, testing and operating in a single branch. Since the work is essentially done off the main branch, it helps in tighter controls and testing.

Cons of GitHub Flow

Every change is merged into the main branch due to which, there is a risk of production staying unstable.

For bigger teams, this model can get costly for the merge because when everyone merges into a single branch, the transparency of other team member’s work is greatly compromised. Therefore, to make up for it, a big team uses tagging that enables the developers to understand the stability measure. However, with time these tags become confusing and outdated.

In a nutshell

Git has proven to be extremely useful in the past couple of years for some solid projects that require a great workforce and a strong branching model for understanding. It is hoped that the basics of Git branching model and its types serve the best purpose in your development journey.

Saima Naz

Jun 9, 2021

Machine Learning in iOS

Machine Learning in iOS

Machine learning is an integral element of today’s technologically-driven world.

It has become a source of making programming scalable in a way that helps developers in the perfect production of apps and users to make the most of the high-tech systems.

But first, let’s take a look at what machine learning is.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is the use or implementation of artificial intelligence in which the machine or computer learns the behavior of past activities and predicts future actions accordingly. Without following specific instructions, machine learning makes use of an algorithm that helps in analyzing the data and form the regular patterns of the data.

Basically, it is the application of artificial intelligence-based systems that allows automatic learning and enhances the system without having to be individually programmed for the purpose. The advancement and development of computer programs with which the data is easy to access and can be learned are possible via machine learning.

The learning cycle of machine learning depends on how well the data has been observed and consumed. The data may include a list of instructions, regular data patterns, and experiences that enable in contemplating and making a decision itself. The objective of machine learning is to ensure that the machine learns and performs an action without any external human assistance or adjustments.

Machine learning is as diverse as primary learning is. There are methods of machine learning based on their algorithms, such as

Supervised machine learning algorithms
Unsupervised machine learning algorithms
Semi-supervised machine learning algorithms
Reinforcement machine learning algorithms
1.     Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms

These are the algorithms that learn from past experiences and implement them in developing new data with the help of labeled instances for future events. This learning algorithm makes predictions for future outputs simpler. The targets are then associated with the input for the effective results. The output is also capable of comparison to find the accuracy of the results and modify accordingly.

2.    Unsupervised Machine Learning Algorithms

The unsupervised machine learning algorithm is used for non-labeled or non-classified data. It learns the raw structures of unlabeled data to deduce the results. It cannot comprehend the exact output however, this algorithm studies the data set and draws conclusions based on the data sets of hidden raw structures of the unlabeled data.

3.    Semi-Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms

A semi-supervised machine learning algorithm is a mix of supervised machine learning algorithms and unsupervised machine learning algorithms. This is the type of hybrid category of the two as it uses both labeled and unlabeled data for the training.

The systems based on this algorithm can invariably enhance the precision of unlabeled data. Although, obtaining unlabeled data does not need external resources, but semi-supervised learning is preferred in cases where labeled data demands the use of solid resources for their training and learning.

4.    Reinforcement Machine Learning Algorithms

The reinforcement machine learning algorithm is special as it provides a learning method where a connection is maintained between error or rewards and actions. The highlighted feature of this method is the trial-and-error search and delayed rewards.

This algorithm enables all machines and software agents to automatically figure out the correct behavior of the context to capitalize the overall performance.

Applications of Machine Learning

There are many mainstream and trending applications of machine learning in today’s world. Let us discuss a few.

1.     Speech Recognition

When you are browsing on the search engine, it also gives you a choice to search by speaking up that comes under the banner of “Search by Voice”. This feature falls into the category of speech recognition. It establishes a process of converting your speech to text.

The latest trends such as Cortana, Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri are marvelous examples of speech recognition technology that follows voice instructions and performs the desired functions.

2.    Self-Driving Cars

You may have come across the images and the idea of self-driving cars which is as thrilling as it sounds. Machine learning greatly contributes to self-driving cars. It is the unsupervised method of machine learning algorithm that has made self-driving cars an exciting reality. The methods train cars and distinguish every object and person on the drive. Tesla is one the finest examples of self-driving cars that the world is aware of.

3.    Image Recognition

The identification of people, places, objects, digital images, and more is a form of an image recognition system. When your phone unlocks itself once it recognizes your face is one of the daily life examples of image recognition. Moreover, when you post a picture on social media with a friend and it automatically generates tagging suggestions with names is how the primary step of the image recognition algorithm works and that is commonly known as face detection.

4.    Traffic Detection

Machine learning has made it easier for you to know if your required route to a destination will face traffic. It predicts the recent traffic situation of the place you want to go to and shows you the correct and shortest route on Google Maps.

It also tells you the duration to reach the destination, slow-moving or heavy traffic with real-time locations, and the average time that has been consumed in the past days.

In a Nutshell

Machine learning has made our lives easier in many different ways we were not aware of. So far, we had no idea how much of our lives’ technological use depends on machine learning. With this blog, however, we hope that you have gained insight into this domain.

Saima Naz

Jun 1, 2021

All You Need to Know about React Native & Flutter Apps

All You Need to Know about React Native & Flutter ...

React Native is an open-source framework which allows developers to build cross-platform mobile applications using JavaScript. Developed by Facebook, the framework enables one to design a mobile application by using the same design principles used to design a web application with ReactJs framework. It lets the developer build mobile application UI by compiling several components. Prior to React native, other options like Cordova, ionic were available to build a hybrid application.

What is Cross-Platform Development?

Cross-platform mobile development is the creation of software applications that are in sync with several mobile operating systems. Initially, the complexity of developing mobile apps was exacerbated by the trouble of building out a backend that worked across multiple platforms. Although it was slow and costly, it was often easier to build native applications for each mobile operating system (OS). The problem? The code built for one operating system could not be repurposed for another OS.

Benefits of Cross-Platform Development

Some of the advantages of developing Cross-Platform apps are:

Codes can be reused

Rather than write new codes for every platform, developers can reuse the same code across all platforms. This also helps reduce repetitive tasks, thus removing unnecessary work. However, it is not a new concept; it has been used in software development for several years now and reusing codes have had a number of benefits.

Controls expense

Contrary to the past when companies had to spend massively on various tools and technologies, cross-platform development now helps organizations invest only once for app development. No longer do they need to spend on creating apps for every individual platform separately. As for app developers, the same team, or unit, can be used to work on different platforms.

Faster development time

Once a single script is deployed, app development becomes much swifter. On the contrary, improved development speed leads to the product hitting the market sooner than earlier. Time can be spent on coming up with codes for a brand-new application, which is a win-win situation for developers, marketers and consumers.

Easier Execution

There are several technologies, nowadays, like PhoneGap and Appcelerator, offering a cross-platform solution that allows developers to make changes easily. For example, when a tool like Appcelerator is used, codes can simply be written in HTML5 and changed for different platforms. Simply put, it’s all about the application of resources you already know about and converting them for different platforms.

This not only makes development of apps faster, but it also becomes easier to sync updates across all mobile devices.

Consistency and Uniformity

Using cross platform app development guarantees that the overall look of the app can be maintained across all platforms since the same set of codes are being applied. Customers find an app cumbersome and ineffective if they need to use different practices for accessing the same app across different mobile phones. They would rather use one that looks and feels the same on both devices.

One of the major goals of a mobile app developer is to acquire as many customers as possible or aim for a targeted market and fully engage the customers.

It is not a tough prospect when most of the targeted audience is using the same platform. It is then easy to select which platform to develop the app on. But when the objective is to target a massive audience who could be using iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and others, the app would have to be made separately for the diverse platforms.

This is where cross platform mobile app development is beneficial. As with all things technological, it may be hard to execute, but the advantages do generally provide a better view for app development.

What is React Native?

First released by Facebook in 2015, React Native, or RN, is a widely used JavaScript-based mobile app framework that lets you create natively-rendered mobile applications for iOS and Android.

In just a few years, React Native has become one of the leading solutions used for mobile development. The app development is used to run some of the world’s foremost mobile apps, including Instagram, Facebook, and Skype.

What is Flutter?

Flutter was introduced by Google in 2015, but today the buzz around it has grown stronger. Flutter is a cross-platform tool designed for building Android and iOS apps from a single code base by using a contemporary, responsive framework.

In a very short span of time, Flutter has managed to gain traction among developers. Today, app stores are graced by a slew of Flutter apps, including the Alibaba app with 50 million users. In addition, Flutter is not only growing at a rapid pace, but it also offers swifter development than React Native. What’s more, Flutter is free and open source, and it’s based on Dart, a relatively new but fast, goal-oriented programming language. Plus, it provides its own widgets — which are fast, catchy, and customizable —and drawn from its own high-performance rendering engine.

10 Amazing Apps Built Using Flutter Framework

  1. Google Ads (Utility)
  2. Alibaba (eCommerce)
  3. Reflectly (Lifestyle)
  4. Birch Finance (Finance)
  5. Hamilton Musical (Entertainment)
  6. Coach Yourself (Health and Fitness)
  7. Hookle (Social)
  8. Watermaniac (Health & Fitness)
  9. Cryptograph (Finance)
  10. SG BusTracker (Maps & Navigation)

Saima Naz

Apr 16, 2021

Page Speed Optimization: Trends & Standards

Page Speed Optimization: Trends & Standards

Page speed optimization is the key factor that determines success for modern online businesses. Poor website performance ruins a company’s goodwill and undermines its reputation when the agony of waiting for slow web pages to load forces visitors to opt for alternatives.

What is Page Speed?

Page speed is the length of time it takes to show all the content on a certain page or the span of time it takes for a browser to collect a web server’s first. Every page component, i.e., its HTML code, CSS that styles page elements, several JavaScript files, pictures, videos and other multimedia and so much more, impacts the page speed.

Thanks to the differences in technology, page speed is gauged distinctly on desktop and mobile devices, with users finding the experience exciting.

Page Speed vs. Site Speed

From their nomenclatures, page speed and site speed look quite similar, but in fact they are quite different from each other. Site speed is the average of numerous model pages on a website, while page speed explains how long an individual will wait to begin using a specific page.

Why Page Speed is Important

For users, page speed is immensely important as swifter pages are more well-organized and provide a much better on-page user experience. According to a survey, if a page takes longer than 4 seconds to load, over a half of users will look the other way.

Speed is equally important for mobile users as well. The same survey showed that 75% of users reported visiting a website that didn’t load fast enough. Conversion rate is also greatly impacted by page speed. For example, a top American retailer Walmart observed a three percent rise with every second of increased page speed.

More significantly, page speed is also vital for search engine optimization (SEO).

In 2010, Google announced that page speed would be included as one of the ranking features for their search index. And a few years ago, the company announced they will give page speed even more attention, integrating mobile site speed to rank sites on its “mobile-first” pages, or pages that personalize rankings for mobile sites. The search engine behemoth also expanded the standing of the user experience by introducing Page Experience to its ranking signals.

Page experience gestures aim to assess web pages by the quality of their user experience for real people. Simply put, they expand Google’s recent on-page standards with features that impact the individual’s experience while using the content. In fact, page speed is one of the most important factors that influence it.

Page Speed Metrics

Page speed is a complex phenomenon. Therefore, to overcome any issues associated with it, it is important to comprehend how it is measured.

There are numerous metrics that impact or are relevant to page speed:

Load time: It describes how long it takes for a whole page to show in a browser’s window. It’s worth noting that for that to occur, all file and script must be loaded and all HTTP requests have to be satisfied.

Page size: It describes the overall size of all features — including code elements, scripts, images, and other files — a page comprises.

Time to First Byte (TTFB): It measures the time between a browser requesting the page and the first byte of the information is returned by the server.

Round Trip Time (RTT): It describes the time it takes for the complete request for information: from the moment the browser makes the request, to the time it takes to reach the server, and how long it takes for the response to return to the browser.

Factors that Slow Pages Down

With these convincing figures, you surely want to ensure your site is loading swiftly. Here are some of the factors that might decelerate your site’s speed.

Primarily, a heavy image page, particularly on sites with receptive or high DPI images, can load sluggishly. Enhancing images can make your website more lightweight; so can allocating them through a content delivery network (CDN) to render those files from location closer to where the user is.

Another problem happens if your web page has a number of large files that must be downloaded. Rendering too many JavaScript scripts might decelerate a page as well. A JavaScript compression or minimization tool reduces your download size. Another grave problem is rendering scripts too early or too late. Often, webmasters design their pages to be expended only after the whole content has been loaded.

Evaluating Page Speed

You may not be aware how users are dealing with your website if you don’t evaluate page speed. Google’s PageSpeed Insights allows you to see your pages’ load speed score, as well as giving you the aforementioned reasons that your page may not be loading as fast as it could be.

Nevertheless, the averages provided by these Google tools do not constantly paint a complete picture. A swift look provides valuable insights as you make the changes that Google’s PageSpeed insights suggests. You can do pre and post analysis and also correlate the changes to see if that led to a rise in traffic and conversion on your site.

However, one thing is crystal-clear: optimizing your page speed is essential for the future. And your entire focus should be on improving the speed of your web page.

Saima Naz

Apr 2, 2021

Everything you should know about ReactJS

Everything you should know about ReactJS

“Backend is the most fundamental part of an application.”

We all have heard that multiple times.

As an app developer, your main focus is the backend of the web application and you make sure that it works efficiently to support the overall application. Yes, the backend is the spine of the web app but we also know that if your application is not pleasing to the eye, you may face difficulty in selling it to the audience.

Application development is a half-done job with a poor front-end. After all, what is seen is sold. A strong visual appeal can uplift the game of your application to the next level.

To accomplish this task, you can make use of a library called ReactJS. What is ReactJS? How can it be smartly used to elevate the overall persona of your newly-developed application?

What is ReactJS?

Fundamentally, ReactJS is an open-source JavaScript library to construct flexible and dynamic user interfaces. This component-based front-end library builds the view layer of your mobile or web application.

ReactJS is considered as one of the flexible libraries as it allows the developer to use it according to their own convenience and requirement. You can develop a little part of a new feature of your app, alter the entire look, or the whole user interface of your application.

It entails the use of a few additional libraries that match the changes you would like to make in any application.

The simple use of ReactJS has helped it gain much popularity and highlights it as the shining future of the web development domain. Big enterprises such as Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, PayPal, and more use React JS for their user interface.

How does ReactJS function?

ReactJS was introduced by Facebook when a team of developers from the franchise comprehended that the Document Object Model (DOM) is confined to a programming interface for XML and HTML documents only. They realized that it only explains the documents of a logical structure and their accessibility of manipulation.

ReactJS introduces virtual DOM which it implements in JavaScript as a tree representation. Hence, when it requires to write or read to the DOM, the virtual representation is used which is a systematic and effective way to upgrade the browser’s DOM.

Contrasting to browser DOM components, React components are plain objects and are cheap to make. React DOM takes care of repairing the DOM to coordinate with the React elements. The reason for this is often that JavaScript is exceptionally quick and it is a sensible decision to maintain a DOM tree in it that accelerates its basic manipulations. Although ReactJS was conceived to be utilized within the browser, its genius design has enabled it to be used within the server with Node.js.

What Are the Advantages of ReactJS?

1.     The Data Flow

ReactJS obeys unidirectional data flow. During the designing process, developers take parent component to nest child component within. But, with the flow of data being unidirectional, the debugging becomes simple and the errors can be easily spotted and rectified.

2.    The Performance

The virtual DOM in ReactJS makes the applications comparatively faster. Moreover, Virtual DOM makes the updating easy. How? By comparing the previous states and updating the features of the Real DOM that require alterations, the updates are simple because the entire application does not have to be updated anymore.

3.    Easy Learning

From the beginners’ point of view, ReactJS can be easily learned because it is the amalgamation of JavaScript and HTML concepts. If a learner spends the right amount of time with multiple tools and frameworks, he or she can learn the ropes of ReactJS’s library with some added advantages.

4.    Web and Mobile Applications

There has been a misconception that ReactJS is only restricted to application development, which is certainly false.

The framework for ReactJS called React Native that is originated from the ReactJS itself which is extensively used for the development of the amazing visuals of mobile applications. This property makes ReactJS a dual-platform library.

5.     The Diversity

The diversity of ReactJS makes it easily accessible for other frameworks such as Vue, jQuery, Angular, and Backbone, as it is not a framework itself.

6.    The Components

Components make or break the application as they pose to be the pillar React application. Mostly, one application is made up of various components. ReactJS components can be reused in the entire application that smartly decreases the development time of an application. These components encompass strong logics that assists in reusability.

What are the requirements to learn ReactJS?

For people with a keen interest in ReactJS, there are a few prerequisites that will pave the way for quick learning such as

  1. HTML
  2. Handful knowledge of JavaScript and ES6
  3. CSS
  4. Basic understanding of Node and NPM
  5. Elementary programming concepts such as arrays, classes, functions, objects, etc.

 Conclusion

A course for the learning of ReactJS can take you a long way. With the help of some basic understanding, you can make the most of this rapidly growing library. Learn it today and take the visual magic of your application one step ahead.

Saima Naz

Mar 25, 2021