As Flutter becomes more known and presents itself as the go-to technology for developing mobile apps, let’s have a good look at what principles it’s based on and see if calling Flutter a programming language is valid.
What is Flutter?
An open-source framework used to develop native-looking iOS and Android apps from a single codebase is known as Flutter. Google established it in 2015 and since then has been used to create over 100,000 apps.
There are good reasons why Flutter is popularly known. Flutter can quickly develop apps for various operating systems while achieving native performance and visual consistency on multiple platforms. It includes a hot reload function, automatically updating UI content when the code changes, enabling easy coding.
Is Flutter a programming language?
Flutter_SDK
Nevertheless, Flutter isn’t a programming language. It’s a software development accouterments (SDK) with prewritten code, which entails ready-to-use and customizable widgets and libraries, tools, and documents that help establish apps. Flutter’s language for cross-platform development is Dart, which Google also created.
Flutter does not need a bridge to communicate with the native tier (Android or iOS). It minimizes performance difficulties and boosts app startup time.
Thus, Flutter’s programming language explains that you need developers to code in Dart to develop your app. Notwithstanding, Dart is similar to Java, .Net, Kotlin, Swift, or JavaScript, and it’s easy to learn.
So is Flutter worth bothering? Will it bring benefits for your product?, and what are the specifics of Flutter as an SDK and its programming language?
What is an SDK – examples of software development kits for mobile apps
An SDK is a ready-to-install package of software development equipment that enables creating of an app. There are 2 kinds of SDKs – native and cross-layer. If you use Google’s Android SDK to create an Android app, you would need to start over again to develop the same app for Apple’s iOS – and vice versa, which means that Native SDKs are specific to each platform.
Nevertheless, some SDKs also offer cross-platform development, which Flutter happens to be one of them. There are some other popular options which are:
React Native uses JavaScript as its programming language to build apps and enables you to write modules in various languages, including C, Java, and Swift. It was created by Facebook and is open-source.
Microsoft claims that it enables developers to distribute an average of 90% of their applications across platforms.
Ionic – it uses languages like CSS and JavaScript to create applications.
What is Dart, and how it works with Flutter
Dart_and_Flutter
As Google’s Flutter’s language, Dart “is a customer-optimized language for quick apps on any platform.” It’s object-oriented such as Java, C++, and Python. It compiles native ARM or x64 machine code (and JavaScript bytecode for the web) ahead of time. It makes an app written in Dart insoluble to differ from a native app at the machine level.
Dart is helpful beyond Flutter: Google engineers use it for some apps, like Google Adverts, for both web and mobile. So it’s obvious Google is invested in the language, and it might keep investing in its development in the future. It is an excellent function if you want to develop your software product using technology that will continue to grow and not stagnate.
However, Dart is not a very popular language – it’s usually within the 20th position of Programming Languages and 32 on the TIOBE Index list. Locating standard developers in Dart might be difficult, but the qualified ones in languages with C-like syntax should be able to grasp it with ease.
What else should you know about Flutter?
There are other specific features of Flutter that might change your decision on whether to make it your SDK of choice.
Flutter is built totally on widgets.
It might be challenging to get familiar with an environment where all, including fonts, styles, or scrolling, is a widget. However, there’s a logic to it once you get the grasp of it.
Flutter for web and Fuchsia
Aside from building mobile apps with Flutter, it’s also possible to create web applications with this SDK. Thus this functionality is in beta. It helps standard web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Nevertheless, Flutter is not ideal for everything. For example, it won’t work precisely on primer-rich websites such as blogs. Desktop support for Flutter is also developed, but it’s still in the alpha stage for now.
Flutter is the default toolkit for creating apps for Fuchsia OS, basically “one of Google’s test around new notions for operating systems,” or, as some think, the company’s effort to replace Android. All apps in Fuchsia are written with the use of the Flutter SDK. It would give Flutter an incredible boost in the future.
Flutter’s growing community
Flutter and Dart are not famous, yet the number of Flutter developers is constantly growing, and they’ve developed one of the best and most helpful communities already. The resources and documentation available are of top standard. You can locate them via GitHub, Slack, and different platforms.
Is Flutter right for you?
Many resources have been put behind Flutter with Google, enabling this SDK to gain speed in the tech community. Whether you should follow the hype or not is another issue: there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and Flutter is practically not for everyone.
At Netguru, we assist everyone from startups to the top enterprises to develop mobile software products that suit their needs. Thus, contact us if you’re impressed with the Flutter SDK or its language but are not sure you have everyday experience. We’ve developed apps in Flutter and will help you choose the best road towards a fantastic software product.