Have you fallen asleep on the MRT? I know I have. However, if you have StationAlarm SG running on your iPhone or iPod Touch, there is a good chance you won't miss your stop, promises the developer Mugunth Kumar.
Set your current station and destination and this app will wake you up just before your stop. If you need to change trains, it will automatically ring a minute before the interchange station. Neat idea.
StationAlarm SG is available on the App Store for US$1.99
Below is an interview I conducted with the developer:
What made you decide to write this app?
Two things. Firstly, I used to commute from Boon Lay to Expo every day and have overslept at Tanah Merah. First and primary reason is to help myself ;-)
Two things. Firstly, I used to commute from Boon Lay to Expo every day and have overslept at Tanah Merah. First and primary reason is to help myself ;-)
Secondly many tourists often get confused with Singapore's sophisticated MRT. They often don't know where to alight and where to change trains. This app can help them to decide how to move around singapore using the MRT.
How long did it take you to develop this app?
I'm a new iPhone Developer. I've literally zero experience developing for iPhone/Mac.
In fact I'm new to Mac platform itself. However programming is not something new to me. I'm a hard core Windows Developer. I have been developing Windows Apps as a part of my job as well as in my free time.
In fact I'm new to Mac platform itself. However programming is not something new to me. I'm a hard core Windows Developer. I have been developing Windows Apps as a part of my job as well as in my free time.
For learning basics of Objective-C and Mac, it took me around 3 months. The app development took me about 4 weekends.
Due to my intense work schedule, I work only on Saturdays and Sundays on iPhone app development.
What was your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge was to get used to "Mac". As for programming, it was kind of a cake walk for me. I know I can do it. The language as such was not difficult.
Second challenge came in the form of "real on device testing". I had a feature complete version of my app running on iPhone simulator. But when I registered for the developer program,
and got the necessary keys to test drive my app on my real device, everything crashed!! The dijkstra's algorithm used way much memory it should. The timer UI was pathetically slower on the device. Because the simulator was running on a mac, I couldn't fix these issues upfront.
What's your background?
I'm not a full time iphone-developer. I've completed my masters in NTU (I'll be graduating next month) and started working in Honeywell in software. My job focusses on object oriented design architectures for windows apps.
What are your plans for future iPhone development?
If I'm successful with this app, i'll be continuing to write more "utilities" kind of apps. I don't think I'll enter gaming/Open GL-es kind of apps. I'm more interested in writing apps for the Singaporean market rather than worldwide as I prefer developing something that I would be using in my day-to-day life.
What's your background?
I'm not a full time iphone-developer. I've completed my masters in NTU (I'll be graduating next month) and started working in Honeywell in software. My job focusses on object oriented design architectures for windows apps.
What are your plans for future iPhone development?
If I'm successful with this app, i'll be continuing to write more "utilities" kind of apps. I don't think I'll enter gaming/Open GL-es kind of apps. I'm more interested in writing apps for the Singaporean market rather than worldwide as I prefer developing something that I would be using in my day-to-day life.
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