If you trace the evolution of mobile app development, it isn’t tough to predict its future- not in absolute terms but a vague picture can definitely be portrayed. It starts with native application development that uses distinct tools and technologies to create distinct applications for distinct platforms. Though superior in quality, it is cumbersome and sucks up a lot of time and resources. So developers devised new tools to create a single application for all platforms- vis-a-vis cross-platform app development. But while it solved one problem, it created another by causing fragmentation on the development front. Developers had to get acquainted) with entirely new frameworks with their own languages and workflow, leaving behind their expertise on tools they previously used.
Then comes Flutter. It is not exactly a framework or an end-to-end solution that many frameworks offer. It is just an SDK that can be coupled with most of the popular IDEs to create platform-independent applications. That is, a single tool to create a single application for all platforms. While most of the other frameworks promise to make the development faster and simpler, Flutter has changed the face of development itself- for good. Let’s take a look at how:
Revamped Methodology
Ask any developer and they would tell you that there are at least a dozen of steps to be taken for building the first page. You have to create the list-item, set the data, create a layout, create instances, mange states, and so forth. It’s all very cumbersome and is housekeeping tasks that don’t directly contribute to the productivity.
With Flutter, there are no such initial barriers. All that developers have to do is create a stateless widget (which itself is very simple), to which parameters and values can be later passed. This means instead of getting bogged down by procedures and wasting time on boilerplate code, developers get to do productive work from the start.
Widgets and Modularity
When it comes to creating layouts, there a ton of components available for Android app developers- which is good because it offers options but at the same time bad due to its part in increasing complexity. With Flutter, all it takes to create layout are Widgets. Instead of using different components with their own properties, the widget can be easily configured to work as individual components and thus the entire layout can be built using these individually configured widgets.
Not only does Flutter facilitates creating simple layouts , but, it saves ample time and resources for application development services who have multiple projects in the pipeline, because those widgets are modular and can be readily deployed in any application.
Lean codes
For a dummy application with the basic layout, using Java for native Android built takes around 12000 lines of code, the same application when built using Flutter, was only around 2000 lines of code long. That’s one-sixth!
Now we all have heard that building a cross-platform app is cheaper and quicker than to hire Android app developers for a native build, but we hardly ever realize that it’s 85% quicker. In all terms, that is just a game-changer.
Additionally, it’s not just about the initial built, the lesser code would also later convert into easier maintenance and more leg-room for upgrades without having to worry about making the application too large.
Overall, the reason Flutter is seen as a game-changer is not because it makes the app development procedure simpler by offering a certain set of tools- as other frameworks do. But because it introduces a whole new procedure for creating applications that are infinitely faster and simpler than traditional means.
