Firefox OS/AcademyNCU2015

Academy Program in National Central University 2015

Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of web browsers, and the convenience of using a web browser as a client to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity, as is the inherent support for cross-platform compatibility.

NCU

Firefox OS is an open source mobile operating system build entirely using Web technologies. Having launched into market on smartphones built by leading handset manufacturers, Firefox OS is seeing rapid expansion into further markets. By making the Web a first class citizen on mobile, Firefox OS seeks to tear down closed ecosystem barriers and promote an open mobile Web.

Photo taken during the class

As an open source project, Firefox OS is built by a community of employees, partners and contributors. Mozilla enthusiastically encourages students from the academy to contribute to Firefox OS. Mozilla works with National Central University in Taiwan and creates a semester class in 2015. In this class, Mozilla deploys required knowledge and skills to students, to implement web based apps. In the end of the class, we expect some apps to be submitted to Mozilla Marketplace.

This class will focus on the implementation of Web Apps and Add-ons, including testing, programming best practice, API basics, and some workshops that allow students to experience the whole process to implement Add-ons and Web Apps. In the end of the class, finished and completed Add-ons and Web Apps are expected. To submit these apps to Mozilla Marketplace is even better.

Basic Information of the Class

NCU CSIE

• National Central University, Taiwan
• Computer Science and Information Engineering Department
• Name of the Class: Implementation and SDLC of Web Apps (Web Apps軟體工程與實作)
• Number of Students: 50~60
• Required Skills: Basic JavaScript programming
• Time: 3-5pm every Friday.
• Location: Room 206 in Computer Science department building (工程五館).

Working Environment

Firefox OS

Operating System

• Ubuntu Desktop 15.04. (Recommended)

Tools

• NVM - Node Version Manager
• git tool
• Firefox OS Simulator
• Firefox Nightly Build - In order to try new framework for Add-Ons.
• WebIDE in Firefox browser(Gecko 34 or higher) with Firefox OS 2.2 and 3.0 runtime installed.
• Pythonpip, Python-virtualenv.

Before development

• Running your own Gaia build:
  • First, make a fork of the main Gaia repo on Github.
  • Clone your fork locally: git clone https://github.com/your-username/gaia.git
  • Go to 'gaia' folder and add upstream: git remote add upstream https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia
  • Now you need to create a Gaia profile. Running make inside your repo folder creates a profile in the profile directory, which is setup for optimal debugging. It creates unpackaged (hosted versions) of the Gaia apps that can be served directly via the local HTTPD server bundled along with Firefox desktop as an extension. When you make a change you just need to refresh your browser window to see the result (as you'll see later), rather than having to rebuild the profile, repush it to the device, etc. This is really good for rapid CSS/JS/HTML hacking.
  • With your debug profile built, run it in Mulet or WebIDE.

Testing environment

• Firefox OS Simulator, Add-on for Firefox browser.
• Firefox OS Flame device(To be clarified. Need to be returned at the end of the class).
  • Students need to sign agreements to make sure that these Flame devices will be returned at the end of this class.

Rating Criteria

• Rating Criteria:

Type	Percentage	Detailed description
Project	60%	* Votes from Demo: 20% ** In the 20% for demo, each student, teacher assistant and speaker has votes to choose the projects that are done by others. * Code quality: 15% * Unit tests: 15% [1] * Creativity: 10%
Homework	30%	Based on the completion and quality of assignment after sessions. Will be reviewed and assigned by teacher assistants and speakers.
Attendance	10%	Based on how students are involved in the class [2].

• Button line: (Students who don't meet one of the following conditions may have a fail in this class.)
  • [1] The codes of the project need to have enough tests passed.
  • The project should not be copied from others.
  • Student needs to submit the app(or add-on) to Mozilla Marketplace and on the shelf of Mozilla Marketplace on time(before Jan 15th) successfully. Please take at least 2 weeks review into consideration, and submit the application in advance.
  • [2] Should not have absence for more than 2 sessions.
• To quit in the middle of the class is not allowed. Please make sure you understand the criteria and decide to enroll this class or not before the end of the 2nd session.

Deliverable

• Each student needs to submit a completed and workable Web app or Add-on to Mozilla Marketplace.
• Each student needs to prepare a demo and shows to other students in this class.
• These Web Apps need to be committed to this Github repository.

Communication Channels

• IRC:
  • How to use IRC to get connected with others in the Mozilla projects
  • Channels: #b2g, #mozilla-taiwan, #Academy-NCU2015
• Mailing list:
  • dev-b2g, dev-gaia

Mentors

Speaker	Responsibility	IRC	Github	Detailed work on items
Kevin Hu	Management of Engineering Community Development	khu	kaichih	LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaichih Telegram: kaichih
Eddie Lin	Web Developer, Firefox OS Product Marketing	elin	elin-moco	Firefox OS Product Marketing and Web of Things development experiments.
Greg Weng	Firefox OS Software Engineer	snowmantw	snowmantw	Lockscreen, and NFC visual effects in Firefox OS.
Yi-Fan Liao	Firefox OS Software Engineer	yliao	bebeeben	system browser, vertical home screen, and bookmark in Firefox OS.
Evan Tseng	Firefox OS Software Engineer	evanxd		making FxOS people want, and coding for System App, Calendar App, and JS Marionette in FxOS Team.
Ricky Chien	Firefox OS Software Engineer	rickychien	rickychien	Work on Firefox OS Gaia.
Askeing Yen	Firefox OS Senior QA Engineer	askeing	askeing	B2G, gaia-ui-tests, marionette, automation, B2G-flash-tool, MTBF, MCTS, b2g-util, taskcluster-util
Shing Lyu	Firefox OS QA Engineer	slyu	shinglyu	Marionette (WebDriver), MozTrap (Test Case Management Tool), Firefox OS Metrics, and Cost Control.
Wei-Cheng Pan	Firefox OS Software Engineer	wcpan	legnaleurc	Firefox OS Performance.
Dietrich Ayala	Technical Evangelist	dietrich		Firefox OS (B2G), Gaia, Firefox, Places, Bookmarks, History, Awesomebar, Livemarks, Microsummaries, Session Restore, Add-on SDK (Jetpack), Performance, Snappy
Bob Chao	Mozilla Rep / MozTW Community	bobchao	bobchao	All about community (both paid / non-paid staff)

Teaching Assistant

• 鍾智鈞
  • Github: chungya
• 蔡宗明
  • Github: FlowerHop

Agenda

• All slides/materials will be uploaded in this Google Drive folder.
• Projects are expected to be finished before December, in order to avoid the conflict with projects from other classes.

#	Date	Topic	Speaker / Owner	Homework
1	09/18	Introduction Overview of this class(rating criteria, major goals, projects). At the end of this session, we will also provide the basic instruction to use Github. Slides can be opened here.	Kevin Hu	Register a Github account and create a repository and rename it via git commands.
2	09/25	Git, Github, Bugzilla, WebIDE and DevTools Introduction of Git, Github, Bugzilla, WebIDE and DevTools. After this session, students are expected to have the skills to use some tools to develop Web Apps. Slides can be opened here.	Ricky Chien Kevin Hu	To create a Hello World app, and submit to your own Github repository.
3	10/02	JavaScript Best Practice (1) Some examples will be used in this session. After this session, students are expected to learn JavaScript best practice, and the skills to refactor JavaScript codes. Slides can be opened here.	Greg Weng	Codes refactoring.
4	10/16	Testing Concepts, Framework and Strategies Introduction of testing concept, strategies and current used testing framework in Mozilla. Students are expected to learn the importance of unit tests and know how to write good one.	Shing Lyu Askeing Yen	To write tests to cover codes from the previous session.
5	10/23	JavaScript Best Practice (2) Some examples will be used in this session. After this session, students are expected to learn JavaScript best practice, and the skills to refactor JavaScript codes. Slides can be opened here.	Greg Weng	Codes refactoring. Start to provide the draft of proposed project.
6	10/30	WebAPI Basics Different kinds of Web APIs will be introduced. Students are expected to know the capacity of Web Apps after this session.	Wei-Cheng Pan Kevin Hu	Use at least one WebAPI in their prototype projects.
7	11/06	Introduction of Add-ons + Presentation of projects(1) Each student needs to start to present the idea of proposed project in the class. Speaker will review the ideas and provide technical suggestions. Meanwhile, knowledge of Add-ons will be deployed.	Eddie Lin Kevin Hu
8	11/13	Client-server Model and Server-side Programming Basics + Presentation of projects(2) Students who didn't present the ideas yet can present the ideas this week. Revised ideas are accepted to be presented as well. common client-server model on the Web and some server-side programming options will be introduced, too.	Eddie Lin Kevin Hu
9	11/20	Introduction of WoT + Presentation of projects(3) All students are expected to finish the presentation of proposed projects this week. Speaker will share the idea of WoT and what we've done so far.	Evan Tseng Kevin Hu
10	11/27	Mozilla Taipei Visit(TBD) Students will come to visit Mozilla Taipei office.	Kevin Hu
11	12/04	Project Demo Students need to demo the result of implemented apps.	Teaching assistants	Project demo
12	12/11	Project Demo Students need to demo the result of implemented apps.	Teaching assistants	Project demo
13	12/18	How to work on Mozilla Projects Introduction of using Git and Bugzilla to work on Mozilla projects. Code review process, patch submission process, and identification of projects in Bugzilla will be introduced. Students can understand how big open source projects are working, and how to work with lots of talented people worldwide.	Kevin Hu	None.
14	12/25	Introduction of animation, web component and Firefox OS TV Introduction of animation technology, web component and technology in Firefox OS TV device.	Yifan Liao Kevin Hu	None.
15	01/08	Sharing: Community society.	Bob Chao Kevin Hu	None.
16	01/15	Special guest: Dietrich Ayala Technical Evangelist at Mozilla.	Dietrich Ayala Kevin Hu	None.

Reference

• A re-introduction to JavaScript (JS tutorial)
• Mozilla Marketplace