FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Final Examination
BIF 4103/ BTC 4201 Mobile Computing
th
DATE: 13 October 2014
TIME: 2 Hours
Instructions: Answer Question One and Any other TWO Questions
Question 1 (30 marks)
a) Define Mobile Computing. (2 marks)
b) Explain any THREE characteristics of a mobile computing environment? (6
Marks)
c) We can define a computing environment as mobile if it supports one or more
of the following characteristics: User Mobility, Network Mobility, Bearer
Mobility, Device Mobility, Session Mobility, Service Mobility, Host
mobility. Explain what each of the characteristics. (14 Marks)
d) Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware, and
mobile software. Briefly discuss any TWO issues that arise in each
category. (6 marks)
e) Mention any TWO Firefox extensions you would use to analyze HTTP headers.
(2 marks)
Question 2 (15 marks)
a) The mobile Computing Functions can be divided into the following major
segments:
1) User with device
2) Network
3) Gateway
4) Middleware
5) Content
Explain the ROLE of each of the segments. (5 Marks)
b) What are the essential functional differences between 1st Generation, 2nd
Generation, and 3rd Generation of networks? (6 Marks)
a) Briefly discuss the essential components of the WAP Architecture (4 marks)
Question 3 (15 marks)
a) What is synchronization and why is important in Mobile Networking? (2
marks)

b) Wireless networks can be classified in two types: infrastructure networks

and infrastructure-less (ad hoc) networks. Explain the difference. (4
marks)
c) Distinguish between Device recognition and Content Adaptation. How
may you attain each of them in your mobile web applications? (4 marks)
d) What are Mobile MIME types and how are they relevant to mobile web
application development? How are they used? (5 marks)

Question 4 (15 marks)

Using any of the mobile application development languages (J2ME, Android,
Objective C, etc), write code snippets to do the following:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Display the phrase Hello World on the device screen (2 marks)

Create an input field for the user to enter their password. (2 mark)
Validate the password to ensure that it is the same as bql2; @. (3
marks)
Respond to an event to close the application. (3 marks)
Insert data into an external database using a server side scripting
language on the backend. (5 marks)

Question 5 (15 marks)

a) Discuss any FIVE challenges of Mobile Computing (10 marks)
b) Explain any ONE way of managing LOCATION in Mobile Computing. (5
Marks)