Flutter: Performance, Speed, Debugging, Learning Curve, Portability, Reliability Analysis
Flutter:
Flutter is Google’s open source mobile UI framework that allows developers to create high-quality mobile apps in iOS and Android at a lightning fast speed from a single codebase. It is based on Google Programming Language called Dart.
Although it is in the nascent stage, it is adopted by many startups and big-giants like Alibaba, Hamilton Music to name of few.
Speed:
It’s fast due to numerous reasons:
- Quick hot reload
- Reusable widgets
- No third-party integrations
- Numerous plugins
One code base for multiple platforms:
Flutter doesn’t require you to build two separate apps for IOS and Android. You only create one code base and use it for two platforms.
Only best practises:
Since Flutter is a relatively new framework it didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Flutter has borrowed the ideas of the best technologies and introduced it as its best practices.
Speed of Development:
Looking for faster development? Flutter solves the purpose as it supports cross-platform development
With Flutter, developers are able to take ‘code once’ approach and create a powerful native experience. You can have a single codebase and can use that codebase for iOS and Android both. This results in low development efforts and faster time-to-market.
Development in Flutter is faster than native and the performance of apps is as good as that of those developed natively.
Debuggability :
Have limited time and huge workload? How Flutter increases the productivity by 10x.
One of the great things about Flutter is hot reload or stateful hot reload. This means if any error occurs during development, developers can fix it immediately. There is no need to recompile & re-deploy the code and can continue from where they are left. Developers can see the effect of a change in code in real-time so a team can quickly add new features, fix bugs and experiment.
Learning curve :
Easy to learn: The ease of learning Flutter comes from simple-to-follow documentation and numerous free resources for learning, including articles, videos and podcasts that come from the original team of developers, who keep them up-to-date and by using best practices.
The team of Flutter developers has done everything in their power to make Flutter as easy to learn as possible. For instance, if an error were to occur during an operation, the error message would be very informative and would give you an idea of what happened and how to fix it.
Comparison :
The product is still in beta but just look how much interest Flutter received over a few months — these are the views of StackOverflow questions for corresponding technologies. We see these questions popping up on Quora as well.
There are other factors that go into understanding the transformative nature of the technology:
Learning curve :
If the product is easy to learn, more people will pick it up for experimentation or self-study. Flutter’s language Dart may scare some people off but the feedback from engineers who tried it has been nothing but positive. It should be familiar to anyone who’s dealt with Java or C#. As for the Flutter platform itself, it’s supposed to be elementary even for people with minimal programming knowledge. Plus, Google is doing its best with great documentation, online lessons, and support groups.
Portability :
So, for now, Flutter can create apps for iOS and Android only, but potentially it can work for any device with a screen. People have made Flutter apps for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and even TV. Google will likely catch up and keep developing the product until it covers the widest application spectrum.
Performance :
Developers are constantly concerned with app speed. Making users not delete your app if it lags or starts for too long is just impossible. The problem is that when developing a non-native app, you literally add another layer to your app. Reactive frameworks such as React Native have JavaScript as its layer and each passing through that layer takes time. Flutter eliminates the need for that layer thanks to Dart, which is well explained in this Flutter review https://www.altexsoft.com/blog/e.... In result, Flutter successfully keeps any movement to 60fps and even matches native CPU usage in a simple Hello world app. There haven’t been many benchmarks made online, but this is one of the most marketed features about Flutter.
User interface :
Native look and feel have been the bane of programmers’ existence forever. We have some great UI results from RN and Xamarin, too, and we love to praise those technologies for maximum code sharing, but Flutter has introduced something new to the table. It provides widgets for the cleanest Android and iOS look — Material and Cupertino design packs. The ability for customization is also there, so you won’t feel obstructed with the provided widgets.
Reliability :
Future Opportunities and Prospects for Flutter Mobile App Development: So, as you can see, despite being a new and improving technology, Flutter already has an edge over its peers in some capacity. However, there is still a lot of untapped potential and ways for it to rise above all other options.
For example, it has recently been announced that Flutter will soon support multiple platforms in its fullest, which means web apps and applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, and even embedded platforms like Google Home Hub.
Multiple companies have already appreciated the technology and support behind it and started using it for their apps. They include:
- Alibaba (Xianyu app);
- Tencent;
- Hamilton Musical;
- PostMuse;
- Meeve, and many more.
Being only around two years old, Flutter has already occupied its niche in cross-platform software development. While it has its cons, the pros make it worth employing a specialist and developing an app using it. If our arguments have convinced you, our team is ready to help you to create your own unique multi-platform application.
Maintainability :
The difference behind the Flutter architecture is that the Dart framework it uses has most of the native components simply built into the engine. While this results in bigger apps, it also ensures its complete independence and effectiveness. Ready-made widgets and development tools facilitate application designing, building, testing, and debugging.
Technical Overview: https://flutter.dev/docs/resources/technical-overview
Used by big companies :
You must have heard of Alibaba, Google Ads, AppTree and Tencent?
Yeah, yeah, their mobile apps are built with Flutter.
It may sound quite astonishing that a newly-born framework is used by such giants, but really it is no wonder since Google, the Titan of the digital world stands behind its creation.