Flutter : Create iOS and Android Apps with single codebase - Part -1

Introduction

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Hey everyone,

Welcome to the blog series of FLUTTER. My name is Nawab. I am a web and app developer.
Lets talk about FLUTTER. I know some of you already heard what Flutter is and somebody even not heard.
Now I am going to share each and everything about Flutter. So lets move forward.
First I want to talk about "What is FLUTTER?"
Lets read the definition at Flutter's official website.

"Flutter is Google’s mobile app SDK for crafting high-quality native interfaces on iOS and Android in record time. Flutter works with existing code, is used by developers and organizations around the world, and is free and open source."

The definition is 100% correct. But I have edited a little bit. I add this line, " Create iOS and Android Native app with a single codebase."

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Gif created by me and source image collect from official website of flutter

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So, You can create a native app with Flutter. No need to use another codebase. It is like react native. It is now popular because of single codebase. If you want to learn creating a native Android app or iOS app with JAVA, SWIFT or KOTLIN, you have to learn different codebase. But now you have an opportunity to learn apps developing with a single codebase with flutter.

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Image source

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FLUTTER v1.0 released note:

It is already in the market. Google has launch it.
On, Tuesday, December 4, 2018, Google had announced FLUTTER 1.0. Though its beta version released first quarter of 2018. They mention that, FLUTTER 1.0 is the first stable release of GOOGLE's UI toolkit for creating beautiful, native experiences for iOS and Android from a single codebase.

See the release note here

I hope that by reading my blog you guys are exited to learn it. Before being more exited I want to clear couple of things. Then I will discuss about the features and installation in my next blog.

FAQ

Now I am going to talk about six points/questions.

• Technology Stack ;
• Is Java / Swift over now?
• Business Requirements ;
• What if Google shut down it?
• Flutter v/s Phonegap;
• Flutter v/s React Native/others;

Technology Stack :

First question is "what is the technology stack of FLUTTER?"
FLUTTER actually used lot of variety as their technology stack. But the main important thing we should know about "DART".

"DART" is a programming language. It is like as java, kotlin, swift, python and any other codes as well. It's syntax is also easy. But there is a few people who learned dart. Don't worry. Its very easy. Your programming language experience always help you, no matter what programming language you know and coded in the past.

Dart Official Website

Is Java / Swift over now?

The next big question is " Is java / swift over now? "

This is the question really come a lot.
People just say, " Hey, the new technology is in the market, so that means the previous technology have gone." 😉
No its never like that. But sometimes it happens. This time it means we have more tools and more opportunity to finish our project.
Programming language are like tools to finish any project. Now we have more tools in our hand. Now we can design / build same project in java, kotlin, react native, flutter and any other language as well.

When a new tool comes, it doesn't mean that previous tools over now. It means you have more opportunity to develop your project, nothing is over.

Business Requirements

The third question is, " Does FLUTTER helps the business requirement?"
Yes, It does. But a lot of companies aren't able to find a programmers on 'DART'. Flutter is a new project. So, many of the programmers don't know about FLUTTER. But it grows up its reputation day by day. Hopefully many programmers will work with it.
It does server requirement. Most of the people are now in react native. Its a truth. I think in future FLUTTER can also grows up quite. But I could be wrong.

What happens if Google shut down its project?

And again the next big question is, " What happens if Google shut down this project?"

Now this is not anything new that we haven't see in the past. We are having a lot of such things. Cloud9 is one of the example. But it is not completely closed and it has been moved to open source project. In past some tools required credit cards but now they are open source like firebase. There is nobody to stop them if they shut down the project.

This is the true fact about technology that they comes and goes, sometimes updated or sometimes stayed. So my advice is don't worry too much about it. Keep learning because when you learning programming you have problem solving habits and it will helpful. So don't focus too much on this problem. Just keep learning. It will sharping your brain.

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Source

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A lots of book says, "worry about today, not past nor future. Just keep learning."

Flutter vs Phonegap

Now the fifth question is, "What about Flutter v/s Phonegap?

I would say comparing to phonegap, Flutter is very dominating. Because phonegap produces apps which is lagging and not much amazing interfaces. Comparing these two things, Flutter is very high and it produces the native apps. I recommended to all those people whose are working hybrid apps, they should jump into Flutter or similar to that.

Flutter vs React Native / others :

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Image source

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React is a project which has been being developed by Facebook. Lets be honest here that React Native has already add its biggest popularity. The first one to came into the market and the Flutter's website also mention it. They have said that lot of things in Flutter also inspired by React Native. This is totally true. So a lot of businesses still using React Native. Because it also does the same things - single codebase for Android and iOS project. But now Flutter also been gained its popularity.

Features

• Fast Development
• Expressive and flexible UI
• Modern & Reactive Framework
• Access Native features and SDK

I will discuss about these features letter.

I am very happy to see that @tensor has recently started tutorial with Flutter framework.

https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@tensor/advanced-flutter-project---setting-up-the-basic-structure---part-one

Flutter Developers official discussion group

Group link - https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/flutter-dev

You can join this group and start discussion and solve others problem.

Resources

Main Website
Github Repo
Dev Group
Flutter Plugin

Documentation

Install
Get started
Api Documentation
Changelog
How to contribute

Want to know more view this official video and read the official release blog: