This project was my first attempt at making an Android app. It is a remake of the old board game Mastermind where the object of the game is to crack a coloured code within an allotted number of attempts. Feedback pegs indicate how close you are to a correct guess after each turn.
The project provided a different type of challenge because of the hardware limitations inherent in mobile devices. Due to the multi-tasking nature of a mobile device, many applications will be running at any one time, meaning memory is at a premium. This warranted a judicious use of new objects to minimise time spent garbage collecting, member variables were accessed directly instead of via getters and setters to speed things up, and static classes were favoured over non-static to save on memory.
One of the most important optimisations was the use of threads. The main thread drives the user interface loop, so if this is affected by slow performance the user receives a not responding warning. This acute lack of responsiveness is particularly evident on touch screen devices where users expect a much faster response to interactions than with a traditional mouse. Therefore any work that is potentially time consuming is fired off onto a child thread, keeping the user interface responsive.
The app was available for download on the Play Store, but due to time commitments, required updates, and machine moves, I could no longer keep it maintained so is no longer available.