Introduction
Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit (SDK) developed by Google for building natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from the same codebase. Launched in 2017, Flutter has registered a massive rise, thanks to the ability it gives developers to create high-performance, visually attractive applications that look the same across different platforms.
Popular Flutter Framework
Material Design
Google created the design language known as Material Design. Material Design ideas are integrated into Flutter, which offers pre-designed UI elements and guidelines for creating aesthetically pleasing and coherent user interfaces.
Cupertino
Apple established a design language called Cupertino. With the help of Flutter's Cupertino widgets, which imitate the iOS design language, developers may give their apps an iOS-style user interface.
Provider
Provider is a Flutter state management library that makes maintaining application state easier. It offers a straightforward and user-friendly API for handling stateful data and adjusting UI elements appropriately.
Firebase
Google created the online and mobile application development platform Firebase. Firebase integration for Flutter makes it simple for developers to add functionalities to their Flutter apps, like cloud storage, real-time database access, and authentication.
Key Features
Single Codebase
The ability to write a single codebase and have it run on all these platforms—iOS, Android, the Web, Windows, macOS, or Linux—has saved years of development time and resources.
Dart Programming Language
Flutter development is done using Dart, which is an object-oriented language modernized by Google. Dart is designed to be speedy and rich in development features while possessing a standard library and garbage collection, and it is strongly typed with asynchronous programming.
Widget Based Architecture
For Flutter, everything is a widget. Widgets are relatively small and interchangeable parts of the user interface in an app, ranging from discrete pieces, like buttons, to complex arrangements, such as layout structure. In a way, this makes the development of UI very simple and seamless in design across interfaces.
Rich Set of Pre-Designed Widgets
Flutter has a rich set of pre-designed widgets that are in agreement with the guidelines of Material Design for Android and Cupertino for iOS. All the features they entail make application development a simple and intuitive task.
Applications of Flutter
Mobile Apps
In fact, Flutter is used to make mobile applications for both iOS and Android. This allows the creation of beautiful applications, compiled natively with great performance, and deployed over more than one platform with a single code base.
Web Applications
Use Flutter for the web to create responsive web apps running on modern browsers. It's perfect for building PWAs, SPAs, and web interfaces that are more sophisticated.
Desktop Applications
Flutter allows you to develop native desktop applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux on the same codebase prepared for mobile and web applications.
Embedded Devices
Flutter supports the development of embedded device applications, which are integrated across all screens and devices for unified user experience.
Advantages
Cross-Platform Development
This means that the development cost of the project is significantly reduced, as Flutter enables developers to target a majority of the existing platforms with a single codebase.
High performance
Apps that are natively compiled and take advantage of the Skia graphics engine for a very slick user experience.
Consistent UI/UX
Flutter's widget architecture provides a consistent look, native across all platforms. It permits a high level of flexibility in customization based on exact design requirements.