Will switching to Flutter from Native App development make any difference?
Android changed everyone’s lives. It was a gamechanger for various fields to kick start something new and powerful. And now, just like Android, we have Flutter having the same power and potential to define technology in its own way. Advancements are must, and in the form of Flutter application Developers got a wish granted. There’s so much to know about it, so much to enhance and so lot more to glorify with the help of Flutter.
What is Flutter?
It is an open-source, cross-platform app development SDK introduced by Google. It supports development for various platforms with a single code-base like Android, iOS or Windows.
What does it offer?
It facilitates a complete development ecosystem full of widgets and tools to develop as well as deploy aesthetically sound apps.
Widgets are the unified object model of this framework that defines:
- Structural elements (like a button or menu)
- A stylistic element (a font or colour scheme)
- A layout aspect (like padding)
These are drawn by its high-performance rendering engine.
The engine is responsible for drawing the composited scenes whenever a new frame is to be painted.
It deals with the low-level implementation of Flutter’s core API, including:
- Graphics (through Skia)
- Different layouts
- Graphics (through Skia)
- Different layouts
- Files
- Network I/O
- Accessibility support, plugin architecture and compiles toolchain.
The process of compiling everything into native code is what brings Flutter one step closer to native applications whenever performance is taken into consideration.
The development is done in the Dart programming language and has extra support for material and Cupertino(for iOS) style of designs.
Flutter doesn’t depend on any platform-specific UI components to render its UI hence maintaining visual consistency across platforms.
On the surface, Flutter is a reactive, pseudo-declarative UI framework in which the developer sets up a mapping from application state to interface state, and the framework takes on the task of updating the interface at runtime when the application state changes.
It features a just-in-time execution pattern to inject modifications into a running application that increases time-to-market speed.
Moreover, the framework gives flexibility for enormous UI customization and optimization across different platforms.
In short, Flutter makes it possible to share the UI and business logic across different platforms resulting in less time, effort, and cost while not affecting the performance of the end product.
How it differs from Native?
Flutter is compiled with native machine code, therefore eliminating the need for JS(JavaScript) bridge to access underlying native features like location, Bluetooth, etc.
The programming language Dart used by this framework is an advanced, compatible, and comprehensive language resembling any other object-oriented language in the market.
It is easy to learn, making a developer from other languages adapt to its ways of implementation within less time.
When we talk about launching a new app, the most prioritized aspect usually turns out to be the product development time in addition to the time taken for MVPs(Minimum Viable Product).
MVP is one of the quickest and most utilized strategies for startups around the world to validate their business idea and attract investors.
By doing so, we can understand how our idea stands out in the market before even releasing the actual product.
Flutter, with its ginormous collection of UI features and having potential for customization and optimization, is best suited for high-end MVPs.
The potential ability to go beyond Mobile
There is always room for improvement, and Flutter did the same. Flutter has now extended its support for Web and Desktop Embeddings making an effort to diversify its horizon.
For example, this year at the I/O conference, Google has presented a technical preview of Flutter Web that makes it possible to run pure Flutter applications in a browser without altering the Dart source code. The conference marks Flutter’s transition from a cross-platform mobile application framework to a full-blown cross-platform development tool.
Well, this is just the start, and it has already made some strong roots to stay for a long time in the market. Faster developments and expressive beautiful UI’s with native performance is itself a powerpack combination. Learn and reach to its level for simplicity.
