Dart 2.5 & Flutter 1.9 Version: What New About This Google Release?
Look here, what’s new in Google’s basket for Mobile App Development Company…
Surely, this week is great for Flutter and Dart! And it is just beginning.
September 11, 2019, During Google Developer’s day, in Chinese Developer Conference, Google has to steal the show by announcing the simultaneous release of Flutter 1.9 version and Dart programing language 2.5 updates with the variety of new features. This is the most surprising release so far by Google with more than 1500 PR officials from around 100 contributors. The latest features and updates cover the wide spectrum from iOS 13 support, macOS Catalina to strengthen support for calling C Code and intelligent code completion by ML.
Also, at the heart of the message, Google reveals that update on “ Successful Integration of the Web Flutter Support to the main Flutter Repository”. Ultimately, this update will gonna surprise all app development companies.
If you have not heard about all these biggest Google Announcements yet, it’s time to give a treat to your eyes and ears!
Quick Highlights of Google Release on Flutter and Dart for Mobile Application Developer
- After a successful launch of Flutter 1.7, Google releases Flutter 1.9 that adds support for iOS 13 along with macOS Catalina.
- Google reveals Flutter 1.9 comes with new Material widgets.
- Dart Programming Language 2.5 version includes more support for calling C code and superior code completion.
- Flutter 1.9 Version will allow mobile app development companies to create mobile, web and desktop apps from the same codebase.
- Google Update the Dart Language to further assist developers in creating all kinds of apps and for all types of platforms.
Let’s take a closer look at last week’s news and get started with the new features of Flutter 1.9.
Flutter 1.9 Version
If you are still untouched with an all-new version of Flutter 1.9, then you have landed at the right place.
For all those unaware of Flutter 1.9 version, the Flutter update has been introduced to support iOS 13 and macOS Catalina with a huge list of additional improvements. From adding advanced tooling to a new material widget to implementing interesting features in the Dart Language, Google Flutter 1.9 will be the most massive update till now.
Flutter 1.9 has just released with the announcement of iOS 13’s official launch and has prepared accordingly with new UI features including a draggable toolbar. On a similar note, Flutter 1.9 is all set to use with macOS Catalina, including Xcode 11 support.
Flutter 1.9 also marks a significant milestone for the framework. The new Flutter projects now default to using Swift and Kotlin instead of Objective-C and JavaScript for their base app code.
Apart, What’s New in Flutter 1.9 Version?
#1. Integrated Web Support With Main Repository of Flutter
Till now it is difficult to develop web applications with flutter, but with the latest version of Flutter 1.9, developers can have a unified repository which makes it possible to develop applications for mobile, desktop and web using the same codebase.
Now when web developers create a project, the framework would create a web runner using a minimal web/index.html file that bootstraps the web-compiled code and expedite web development processing.
The file would enable using either the Flutter CLI tool or IDE plugins so developers can edit and run flutter applications on the web. While it is difficult to access but it is a great option to try with Flutter.
Considering the features of Flutter 1.9, hire a mobile app developer who can leverage the benefit of this application and able to edit and run Flutter applications on the web.
#2. Support Of New Material Widgets
Flutter 1.9 brings you a wide range of features and material components that can make your web app development process far easier and hassle-free.
Material is one of the world’s leading open-source design systems, providing a comprehensive, flexible set of building blocks for implementing interactive user experience across many platforms.
While there are a various set of new widgets have been integrated with Flutter 1.9 including ToggleButtons(Left), ColorFiltered(Right), text and icon widgets, now developers can get a fully customizable look of your web.
Whether you want a single selection or multi-selection, allow none? Do you want a square or rounded edges, thick or thin borders, icons or text? Everything you can customize according to your needs with the new Material widget.
#3. Worldwide Multi-Language Support
Flutter goes fully linguist with this new release and adds support for 24 languages right from Afrikaans to Zulu. It is something exciting that was missing in the last version.
Flutter 1.9 started supporting multiple languages including Afrikaans, Amharic, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bengali Bangla, Basque, Gujarati, Icelandic, Georgian, Kannada, Kirghiz Kyrgyz, Lao, Panjabi Punjabi, Macedonian, Malayalam, Burmese, Nepali, Oriya, Zulu, Uzbek, Telugu, Nepali, Albanian, Sinhala Sinhalese and others.
Advancement in Toolchain
“There was a time when people felt the internet was another world, but now people realize it’s a tool that we use in this world”.
— — — — — — -Tim Berners-Lee
And the invent of Flutter 1.9 has fairly proved this statement true!
With the latest release of Flutter 1.9, new projects default to Swift instead of Objective-C and Kotlin. As many packages are written with Swift and make it a default option, so this will dismiss the manual work needed for adding packages written with Swift to an application.
Besides, the improvement in Flutter 1.9 Toolchain, now developers can revert to Objective-C or Java. Additionally, Google is also working on improving error messages in Flutter to make them core concise, readable and actionable.
#4. Added Support for iOS 13 And macOS Catalina
As Apple all set to release Catalina the advanced version of macOS, Google wants to make sure that Flutter is also ready to support the latest version of macOS. And Google recently reveals that they have updated end-to-end tooling experience to ensure it works well on Catalina and with Xcode 11.
Flutter 1.9 added support for new Xcode build systems, enabling 64-bit support throughout the toolchain and simplifies the platform dependencies.
This is all that the new Flutter 1.9 version will gonna provide us…What about Dart Programming language Update? Will Dart 2.5 also benefits the developers with great features? Will it also make the coding easier for the app developers…
Let’s unlock the secret…
What’s New In Dart 2.5?
There is no denying this fact that Dart is a newly launched programming language born by Google implemented to develop mobile, web, desktop and backend apps in an efficient and hassle-free manner. Before hiring an app development company, it is important to understand that it is an object-oriented, class defined language with C-style syntax which is optionally used to transpile into JavaScript.
If you have been waiting for long to leverage the Dart Language with the improved toolchain, then your wait is finally over as Google has announced the preview of Dart 2.5 that is covering the broad features, making things simpler for developers.
Relishing Machine Learning for Code Competitions
One of the best features that have been introduced in Dart 2.5 is the automatic completion of the code by ML. This will not only cut down the hassle of writing code but also minimize the risk of having typing errors in the coding. With the code completions, developers just need to type the initial of expected symbols and pick the complete coding from the suggested coding.
However, the only down part is, exploration becomes difficult when the list of possible completions gets too long to browse through alphabetically. However, the Dart model is supported by TensorFlow Lite, the model can easily predict the next symbol while the developer is editing the coding or writing the codes. And in technical language, we call this feature ML complete.
Added Support for Calling C-Based System API on the Host Operating System (OS)
The level of excitement of mobile application developers will surely boost up with this announcement. The Chinese Developers Conference also saw the launch of the draft:fii library, the preview of which allows calling into C code directly from Dart and Flutter.
The dart:ffi feature is also used to implore C-based Frameworks and components. The C-based frameworks allow the users to run TensorFlow across the operating system wherever the code completion is required.
Experts add, we also expect that the ability to call C-based libraries will be of great use to Flutter apps. The developers are advised to use the Flutter Master Channel and a Dart Dev Channel to Quickly learn about the changes and improvements integrated with the draft:fii feature.
Advancement in Constant Expressions
Dart 2.5 version has been launched with the new abilities of constant expressions. In Dart 2.5, constant expressions can be defined using many ways including the ability to use casts, improved control flow and collection spread features.
Google is also prepping for the next release with extension methods for better support for concurrency. Rich migration tools for existing code is the tech giant’s latest area of interest and investment.
Closing Thoughts
2019 is the remarkable year for Google Developers Day as it is the time when Google announces the biggest updates of Flutter and Dart which is welcomed by mobile application developers with wide-open arms. This is a great time for Flutter and Dart enthusiasts as well as those who are excitedly moving towards to adapt this framework.
Hopefully, this blog powered by Flutter 1.9 version coupled with Dart 2.5 update will upgrade your knowledge and expedite your app development process. Help yourself to adapt to these changes in Flutter and Dart by simply hiring the best mobile app developers that can add a perfect competitive edge to your business.
