Introduction To Jetpack Compose

👋 This Side Aditya,

Now a day’s in native android development there is a term called Jetpack compose getting a lot of limelight. but the question is what is it ?

What is jetpack compose ?

Jetpack compose is declarative UI framework for Android developed by Google. basically it is used to build User interface (UI) for app. now you may have a doubt what is meaning of declarative here.

What is declarative means ?

Declarative means that the UI will be render based on state if the state change UI will be change. basically in jetpack compose we render the ui based of state changes. let me show you a sweet example.

@Composable
fun DisplayMessage(isSuccess: Boolean) {
    Box(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
        contentAlignment = Alignment.Center
    ) {
        Text(
            text = if (isSuccess) "Success" else "Failed",
            style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodyLarge
        )
    }
}

DisplayMessage(isSuccess = true)

In above example if you pass isSuccess = true then the “Success” while be shown else “Failed”

So that is small example of declarative UI framework .

🤔 Why should we use Jetpack compose ?

If you have this question you are right, Many company’s are still using the XML and there are some legacy software available that are built on top of XML. But Jetpack compose has several advantage on top of XML let me show you.

1. Declarative UI Framework : as we discuss previously jetpack compose is declarative UI Framework which mean it render UI on the basis of state, where as in XML you can’t render UI based on state you have to create all the UI first in XML then in activity or in fragment you have manually change the UI.
2. Reusable : In Compose the UI is build as composable function (as we seen on above example) which help us in reusability and help us to build most complex UI in small composable function.
3. Kotlin Compatibility : Compose is built with Kotlin, leveraging Kotlin’s language features such as coroutines, extension functions, and type safety.
4. Android Studio Support : Compose has excellent integration with Android Studio, including features like real-time previews, a more interactive UI editor, and a powerful debugging experience.
5. Performance : Compose is designed with performance in mind, using a single underlying rendering engine to efficiently manage and update UI components and also provides fine-grained control over when and how UI elements are recomposed, allowing for more optimized performance.
6. Animation And Transitions : Compose offers a straightforward API for implementing animations and transitions, making it easier to create smooth and dynamic UIs.
7. Theming And Styling : Compose provides a flexible theming and styling system that allows you to easily apply consistent styles across your app.

Last but not least Jetpack compose is growing technology and it is fully supported by google and it is up to date with latest android platform features and best practices, and community is also growing people working very hard to push this so that there is no lack of any resources and library.

Conclusion

Jetpack compose is showing a great shift in UI development of native android apps with offering of great new library and efficient performance and it is developer friendly because it is compatible with kotlin.

Let’s move from XML ➡️Jetpack compose

I have just started writing the Medium article and i am starting jetpack compose series where i will share all my learning and experience with android development.

Thank you.