Introduction to Flutter: A Beginner's Guide

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Jun 11, 2024

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What is Flutter?

In the application development world, one can develop applications using various platforms. Android and iOS are examples of platforms on which wireless or mobile applications can be developed. Until recently, when a company was required to build mobile applications targeting multiple platforms, two categories of developers were hired. One specifically for Android and the other for iOS. This not only increased the time taken to develop the app, but also increased the cost of pushing updates, overhead costs, and so on.

What is the solution now?

Flutter, React Native, and Ionic are frameworks that have solved this problem of having to develop multiple applications for several platforms by using a cross-platform development approach. In this approach, applications are developed that can be used across platforms.

What is Flutter?
A 'tool' that allows building native cross-platform (for Android or iOS devices) applications with one programming language and codebase.

Flutter uses Dart which is focused on the front end, that is, User Interface (UI) development. Dart was developed by Google and is an Object-Oriented programming language. The syntax for Dart is a mixture of JavaScript, Java, and C#.

Features and Advantages of Flutter

The following are the features and advantages of Flutter:

• Hot reload: Hot reload makes it possible to see changes in the code immediately by making them visible in the UI. This speeds up the process of working on the application concept; moreover, it enables developers to fix costs that save money and effort.
  
  
• Cross-platform development: Flutter enables developers to write code that works on a variety of platforms. Two separate applications can use the same codebase. In addition to sharing the UI code, the UI itself can be shared. This makes maintaining one codebase easier when compared to maintaining several codes for several domains.
  
  
• Widget Library: Everything in Flutter is defined as a widget. The widget can be anything such as padding, color, or a menu. Flutter can create complex customizable widgets depending on application requirements. Other examples include the Cupertino package and Material Design with widget sets that give a seamless user experience.
  
  
• Native performance: In Flutter, Google Fuchsia, iOS, and Android provide field-specific widgets. Integration of these widgets into the Flutter app for several location-based functions is possible. Existing Swift, Java, and Objective-C codes can be made to use native features such as cameras and geolocation. Hence, Flutter can easily have third-party integrations with APIs.
  
  
• Open Source: Flutter is an open-source platform developed by Google. To create Flutter applications, several design options can be explored by developers. Applications that are easy to use can be created with the help of Cupertino widgets and Material Design. Flutter Form is a community of Flutter lovers who come together to answer Flutter-related questions and discuss them. Flutter is completely free and there are detailed tutorials and communities available online.
  
  

Using Flutter for Application Development is beneficial for the following reasons:

• One code: With one code, developers can target Android and iOS-based devices, desktops, and the Web.
• Simple: Flutter is very easy to learn and use.
• Easy Testing: App testing is very easy in Flutter because of Flutter's unit testing functionality.
• UI Library: The Flutter framework offers inbuilt UI functions that enhance the UI/UX.
• Custom Interface: Flutter has built-in functions that help us to create a custom interface.
• Scalability: Flutter scales well which helps in Future Scope.
  
  

Architecture and Components of Flutter

The Flutter framework broadly comprises four components:

• Flutter engine
• Foundation library
• Widgets
• Design Specific Widgets

The Foundation library contains the required packages for writing full-fledged Flutter applications. Since the Flutter engine is portable, it can be utilized for high-quality mobile apps. Flutter UI is composed of widgets that are classified according to the design languages of Google and iOS. They are Material Design and Cupertino Style.