Does the Road from Web to Native Really Worth? Academic Timetable Case Study

Abstract

Abstract: One of the main implicit goal of Information revolution is to transfer knowledge from natural language, familiar for humans, to a language appropriate for computers. Every software application represents a tiny step forward in this complex process. However, although remarkable progress in terms of portability, we are still in the position to write the same application on and on if we want maximum performance and user friendly interface. In this article we analyze two applications for visualization of the academic schedule – web and native (Android) – taking into consideration portability, performance, offered features, and usability. Both applications use the same data and they can be accessed for free in order to interact with academic timetable of “Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava. The experimental results address both an objective part (performance and portability) and a subjective part (usability and importance of additional features). These results offer interesting clues regarding what it is important for end user when they interact with an interface application.