Flutter: The Future of App Development?
It wasn’t that long ago that apps were rare and developers ever rarer.Fast forward to today there are millions of apps being developed across multiple platforms every day. This division of platforms makes app development a very tedious task.
To solve this problem Flutter was developed at Google in 2017.
Content:
What is Flutter
Native vs Flutter
Future of Flutter
What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source SDK backed by Google for crafting attractive, fast user experiences for mobile, web, and desktop.
Ever since flutter came out, its popularity has skyrocketed due to the unimaginable potential it holds and how stable it is having huge giants like native android as its competition. It is mainly because of the tools, and the way the SDK works under the Hood (Backend).
Flutter enables users to make apps that are :-
- Multi-Platform — Cross-platform technology allows users to make an app on all platforms with a single codebase. It behaves naturally on any platform, mobile, web, or desktop.
- Attractive — The UI of Flutter apps is amazing and has a native feel to it. It offers programmers a simple approach to create and deploy graphically appealing apps.
- Fast — Developing a flutter app takes limited time compared to the native technologies.
- Stable — The apps that are developed in flutter are supported and used by Google, trusted by well-known brands around the world, and maintained by a community of global developers.
- Open-Source — Flutter is an open-source development platform and the entire code is available freely everywhere.
The Flutter SDK is grounded on the Dart programming language, also developed by Google :
Dart is an object-oriented, open-source language. The fundamentals of Dart are similar to all higher-level languages such as Java, JavaScript or any C language. Dart is a simple language which has many features which support Flutter development such as :
1. Just-in-time (JIT) compiling and Ahead of time (AOT ) compiling.
2. It is an object-oriented language with similar syntax to C languages making it easier to shift to.
3. No need for XML files
4. Asynchronous, stream-based programming
5. Finally, Dart keeps constantly improving itself and is in constant development.
The entire flutter application is made up of widgets, you could even say that Flutter is widgets.
Every object in Flutter is a widget, from a button to padding or a font. Layouts can be created by combining Widgets, and you can use widgets at any level of customization, from the highest level when you design your own widgets using the same resources the Flutter team used to create the pre-built building blocks.
In Flutter, widgets are arranged in trees, which is helpful in rendering but may cause the entire structure to become too complicated. It may take up to 10 layers of code to build a simple object in large apps, therefore you’ll need to prepare the structure beforehand.
Hot Reload :
Flutter has an amazing feature called the hot reload. It is the simplest and quickest function that enables you to make adjustments, fix bugs, create UIs, and add functionality. Its functioning is completed in around one second. The saved state is not lost after a hot reload.
Developers may make changes to the code instantly using “hot reloading” (faster development), and it will take only a few moments for the changes to show up. This makes bug resolution and experimentation easier.
Native VS Flutter
Ever since cross-platform technologies came into existence there has been a hassle about which is the best. Both native and flutter technologies have their own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Development Speed:
Flutter gives developers the ability to write only one piece of code for two distinct platforms, which drastically cuts down on both the cost and time of development. Compared to native codes, flutter codes are simpler to develop. As for native technologies, developers have to write two codes for Android and iOS, which inevitably takes more time.When compared to the development of two native apps, Flutter development is 20% to 50% faster. The intricacy of the interface and the desired functionalities, nevertheless end up affecting the speed.
App Performance:
With technological advancements ,Flutter now offers performance on par with native apps. As for memory usage, native apps show the most efficient memory consumption. Compared to native, Flutter uses more RAM, while React Native performs even worse.
Flutter differs from other app development frameworks in that it prioritizes user inputs. It is intended primarily for the quick and highly interactive app development. Additionally Flutter applications are quicker and more responsive
Code Maintenance:
Separate native app maintenance is a resource-intensive endeavor. Developers will have to work on various patches and upgrades for each programme because every platform will have its own faults and problems. With the release of new iOS and Android versions, the expenses of code maintenance rise even more. Supporting a cross-platform programme is a simpler procedure because, most of the time, the same code necessitates the same solutions for both platforms.
Future of Flutter
Since 2018, more than 2 million app developers have used Flutter’s Software Development Kit to create both consumer and business applications. In 2020, 30% of developers will use Flutter for App development, according to a Statista poll. In contrast, this percentage increased to 39% in 2021 and is projected to increase even more in the years to come.
Businesses want to roll out their apps across a variety of platforms to save time, money, and the hassle of having to allocate different teams to various platforms. These businesses now have a solid choice thanks to Flutter.
Due to its strong capabilities, Flutter has already established a significant following among developers,but there’s still plenty of potential for it to grow even further.
Businesses want to roll out their apps across a variety of platforms to save time, money, and the hassle of having to allocate different teams to various platforms. Flutter has given these firms a strong option in this area.
Due to its strong capabilities, Flutter has already established a significant following among developers, but there are still many opportunities for it to grow even more.
In December 2018, Flutter 1.0 was launched, and only Android and iOS devices were supported. The March 2021 release of Flutter 2.0 introduced a number of modifications, including desktop support, sound null safety for Dart, web support for all platforms, and memory allocation tools.
Both the release of Flutter 3.0 and Dart 2.17 were announced at the same time in May 2022. With the addition of Desktop Support for macOS and Linux in these releases, Flutter is now accessible on six different platforms :
- iOS
- Android
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- Web
