Among many news surfaced in the year 2018 like France winning the FIFA world cup or the death of Stephen Hawkins; another news which made headline was that Google launched Flutter 1.0 as an open app developing platform. It was a complete gift for all the app developers who previously used to code for both Android apps and iOS apps separately. Additionally, it also supported the development of the high-performing application, myriad of widgets, a smooth flow of animation and so on.
Let’s have a brief Introduction to Flutter!
Flutter is generally a software development kit (SDK) for building modern apps. It provides high-performance and high-fidelity for both Android and iOS from a shared codebase.
Jamie Notter said, “Innovation is change that unlocks new value”. Similarly, every new technology comes with its own advantages helping us with some way or another. Let’s have a look at some of the Flutter advantages that makes it a developer friendly SDK.
Here are 9 Reasons why Flutter can Make a Difference
Open-source Project
It was created and launched by Google as an open-source SDK for developing mobile based applications. It is free for all and can be used for any given purpose of developing an app. It doesn’t only give you a free option to develop apps but also provides you with a multitude of free options, unlike other companies.
Single codebase for Android and iOS
Flutter is based on the single codebase for developing the apps supporting both the platforms i.e. Android and iOS. It has widgets i.e. Material design for Android and Cupertino for iOS which follows the guidelines of both platforms. This makes the task a lot easier for the developers as now they can operate on both Android and iOS. It also avoids the trouble of drastic switching. Apart from all these, it also gives you the freedom to differentiate your app. Moreover, Flutter also supports Fuchsia platform which is believed by many as the replacement of Android in near future.
Dart
The whole framework of Flutter is based on Dart. It is a programming language developed by Google and supports all the major OS. Dart is easy to learn, stable, highly scalable and deployable. It has strong support with several libraries and tools.
The use of Dart for Flutter helps you use Just-in-Time compilation improving the development workflow. Dart in Flutter offers you a native performance for different platforms, smooth transitions and animations at 60 FPS. You can also have access to the ever-growing collection of Dart libraries and tools requiring very dew lines of code.
Hot Reload
Flutter is supported by a hot reload feature. It means that if you made any change in the code then you can see them straight away without waiting or restarting the app. Usually, it takes seconds to check the changes. This helps designers to add new features, fix bugs and experiment with the application more efficiently.
Though it has few limitations but when compared to native app development it is far advanced. In native app development developers has to wait for several minutes to check the changes they have made.
Widgets
Widgets are the essential components of any applications. A widget can be a button, menu, font and so on. These needs to be fast, extensive and fully customizable. By using Flutter, you’ll get a widget library with a wide range of widgets to use while building your apps. They are fast, responsive, looks natural and can be customized effortlessly.
MVP
MVP or minimum viable product is a product designed with minimal features to satisfy the customer at the early stage. It is also used to take feedback for future improvements. So, if you are one of those developers, who needs an MVP of the app for their client or investors then Flutter will be a great option. It is especially helpful if you have less time and you want to give a clear idea about the app to your clients.
Fast and Quick
It is designed to develop apps more faster than other available platforms. Due to its numerous features, it allows developers to code faster and efficiently. As discussed above, its hot reload feature makes the entire process of developing an app more faster and simpler.
Additionally, it is designed as a single codebase supporting both Android and iOS which we will discuss later. This reduces the testing time as now you are not required to test your app for 2 different platforms. Likewise, It also enhances the QA process by making it more quick and flawless.
Furthermore, you can use Flutter on low-end devices too. It is easy to set up and initiate the coding for an application. It omits the requirement of any powerful devices with high specs.
Native Features
Flutter gives you the access of native features of your device like a camera, geolocations and others just like any other native apps. However, these functions can be incorporated by using native languages.
Official Support
As Flutter was initiated and launched by Google, there is no point of discussing its support community. It is backed by a great support team and has a community with more than 1000 developers always ready to help and make Flutter better.
Bottom Line!
To summarize all, we can say that it is a cross-platform which is gaining popularity by every passing day. Flutter is easy, simple and also has a great potential for developing an application with ease. Clearly, it takes a lot less time than creating 2 similar apps on different platforms.
However, despite having few drawbacks, it is still in early stages with sundry of possibilities in upcoming days. Now, more and more developers are growing their interests for Flutter too.
Meanwhile, if you’ve noticed anything which I have forgotten worth mentioning in this blog, then do comment below.
Till then, Keep Reading and Keep Learning!
