Model-Based Software Development: Local-first Social Media Platform

Problem: Today, we use numerous applications to store our work, share pictures, collaborate on a document, and more. Most of them work with the internet, and without a connection, you cannot claim the “ownership” of your data. While this is primarily a big problem for collaborative software tools like Google Docs, a similar situation can be found with social media platforms as well. Without a connection, you cannot see your posts, create a new post, or edit your post.

Solution: Local-first software is a paradigm that aims to solve this problem by storing the original replica in your device rather than the server. In this project, we aim to build an iOS application, using Swift and SwiftUI, that incorporates this paradigm and applies it to a social media platform. Users should be able to modify their data even when they are offline.

Methodology: You will follow a modified version of Scrum called Rugby in this project. The project will be implemented following model-based software development. You will draw architectural diagrams (e.g., subsystem decomposition) and UI mockups (e.g., Balsamiq, Figma) and implement them accordingly.

Objectives:
Understand local-first software and apply it to a mobile application
Understand how agile methodologies work and incorporate your work accordingly (e.g., product increments)
Understand the importance of problem identification, requirement engineering, and models for software development
Learn native app development for iOS with Swift and SwiftUI

Co-supervisor: Ahmet Şentürk