![]() My first confusion with Flutter was where to find this source file in the project window on the left, or even where to find the lib folder. To begin with, this folder just holds the file main.dart, which is where your app begins execution. The most important folder name to be aware of is lib - this is where your source files live, basically where you edit your application. Be sure to give your project a name with all lower case, separating words with underscores, Flutter project names do not like camel case! Flutter generates folders for each target which are then used to build your app. You can choose which platforms you would like to target - iOS, Android, or you can even target web - or the desktop, whether that be MacOS, Windows or Linux. ![]() Creating a new Flutter project is as straightforward as creating a native Android project. Once you install the Flutter plugin, working with Flutter in Android Studio is surprisingly well integrated into the IDE. As you have Android Studio installed anyway to run apps on Android, unless you have a strong preference otherwise, it probably makes most sense to go ahead and work in Android Studio. It just takes installing a Flutter plugin in your IDE to able to run your app from within the IDE, and also have access to code completion, syntax highlighting, debugging, etc. The next surprise was that Flutter doesn’t have its own IDE - it allows you to use your own preferred IDE (although Xcode isn’t in the list) - Android Studio, IntelliJ, VS Code, or Emacs. The Flutter tool is quite useful in the installation process - just run flutter doctor and see if you have missed any steps or dependencies.įrom the point of view of someone who avoids Terminal if possible - give me a graphical UI any day - all of this messing about in the Terminal was a little unexpected, but not too difficult. You’ll need to add Flutter to your PATH to be able to run Flutter commands in Terminal. You’ll also need to do some tinkering in Terminal to prepare your machine, such as agreeing to iOS and Android licenses. To run apps on iOS you’ll also need to ensure that the latest versions of Xcode and CocoaPods are all set up and ready to go too. To run apps on Android you’ll need to install Android Studio, and add “virtual devices” to be able to run the app on the Android emulator. There is of course an installer which contains the Flutter SDK, but there is also a series of steps that have to be followed to be ready to go. The first surprise with Flutter was the installation process, which to be honest, was a little laborious. As is usually the case with new software, let’s start with installation. In this article I’m going to take a look at Flutter from the perspective of a native iOS developer.įor those interested in following along and checking Flutter out for yourself, you’ll find good guides at v. With approximately one third of mobile app developers now using cross-platform tools ( link), Flutter definitely looks worth checking out! Flutter - let’s check it out In StackOverflow’s 2021 developer survey, Flutter was loved by 68% of developers, React Native 58%, and Cordova just 31%. ![]() Meanwhile React Native dropped a few points to 38%. Flutter was used by 42% of developers in 2021. However, since then Flutter has experienced quite a rise in popularity. Until recently, React Native easily lead the field of cross-platform tools, with 42% of developers choosing it in 2019, while other tools only reached 30% or fewer ( link). Xamarin, developed by Microsoft in 2014, React Native, developed by Facebook (now Meta) in 2015, and Flutter, developed by Google in 2017, allowed cross-platform apps to look and behave like native apps. This all changed when native cross-platform development became possible. One drawback of these tools was that native components were not easily available - apps built in these tools often had their own custom look, using HTML5 components, or were often more used in game development or apps with their own UI design. PhoneGap was made open-source in 2011 and rebranded Cordova, and since then several other cross-platform tools have been built on top of it, such as the Ionic framework, released in 2013. Early on, the main contenders were Unity, Adobe AIR and PhoneGap. It’s time to check out the state of play in cross-platform development! Cross-platform app development - a quick catch-upĮver since iPhones and Android phones have been around, there have been tools to facilitate development on both mobile platforms with just one codebase. Having just spent a lot of time converting an iOS app to Android, I can really appreciate the value of a cross-platform tool with a single codebase. I’ve been working in mobile app development since 2010, initially with Adobe AIR and PhoneGap, but for nearly ten years now I have mainly focused on native iOS development - Xcode, Objective-C, Swift and more recently of course SwiftUI.
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