Initially unveiled three years ago at Furman Engaged, the Furman Now! App was developed by computer science students working under Dr. Bryan Catron in the department. They set out to house the utility of many Furman apps in one easily accessible app.
The initial version of the app had not been updated much, and contained a separate base code for Android and IOS. This meant that the first challenge was maintenance and upkeep of the code itself. When Dr. Sultan asked alumnus Michael Peeler ‘24 for project ideas in his Senior Seminar, he had a vision for a new version.
“Dr. Catron, who’s been in charge of it for the past three years, is retiring this year,” Peeler said. “I knew that if we were going to do something with it, this was the last chance we would have before we lost access to all the knowledge he has.”
Because of the two different versions, Peeler rewrote the base code to establish autonomy across Android and IOS. This would make future modifications and maintenance easier for students carrying on the project.
“It was a very lengthy process,” Peeler said. “There were definitely some long nights, but it was fun applying the four years of coding I had learned at Furman.”
The app’s features were changed in two other ways. The new app offers more time-specific information, such as real-time ETAs in the trolley map and a dining schedule automatically updating for holidays and events.
The last large improvement is the News Feed — a page of the most recent posts from various publications on campus, such as The Paladin, Furman News Channel, the Knightly News, Christo et Doctrinae and more.
Peeler has been speaking with younger computer science students about the future of the app and is excited for it to continue to evolve. He hopes for the addition of a parking map complete with the correct zones, academic department information, and a way for students to reserve study rooms in the library.
“It’s been amazing to watch as, over just a semester, all of this work has come to fruition,” Peeler said. “Getting to take something from non-existence to existence was just great.”
