As summer comes to a close, the University of Arizona is putting together new classes for students and also bringing back an old class.

Bridget Radcliff, director of academic and support services in computer science, noted that the new faculty members will not only give the UA a returning class about app programming, CS 317 Mobile Application Programming, but also new classes about machine learning.

“We used to have a mobile development course and the instructor that taught it left the university several years ago,” Radcliff said in an email. “We have a new faculty member, Benjamin Dicken, who has an interest in mobile programming and so he created this course.”

Dicken has a specialization in Android apps, according to Radcliff, and the university hopes to bring on a member that will specialize in iOS app development as well. “We just need to find an instructor who has that knowledge,” Radcliff said.

According to DDI Development, a company that helps smaller companies develop products, the major difference between the two tech moguls is the languages used when creating the different apps.

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“Java applies to Android-based apps when building. It requires a lot of code to be written,” according to the DDI website. “A brand-new language Swift was designed to develop iOS-based apps.” 

The UA will also take on three new faculty in the fall that will specialize specifically in machine learning. 

Machine learning is a method of data analysis that lets the computer learn through a trial and error process; however, the process takes a fraction of the time it would take a human to learn.

In an email, Radcliff said, “We also do consider the needs of students and if there are areas we are not covering and we have faculty expertise then we do work to develop new courses to meet those needs as well.”

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