What is Flutter? Why you should learn it as a mobile developer?

If you have no idea what Flutter is? No worry, you come to the right place. In this Flutter tutorial series, I am gonna to teach you step-by-step. It’s okay if you are an absolute beginner of coding. Or you will learn something interesting if you are an experienced mobile developer focus on Swift or Java in the past.

So, What Exactly is Flutter?

In mobile app development world, Flutter is a game-changer. Well, Flutter is basically an open-source UI software development toolkit created by Google. It’s not a programming language but more like a framework. With this toolkit/framework, you can build natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. Sounds cool, right?

Think of Flutter as the secret sauce. It helps you develop beautiful and high-performance apps efficiently. No matter you’re building for Android, iOS, or even the web, the whole process are simplified. The little obstacle for beginners to pick up Flutter should be a new programming language called Dart. It’s an object-oriented coding language, a bit similar to Java but less complex. Other than that, Flutter is great because of the large range of ready-made widgets.

Why Should You Learn Flutter?

You might be wondering, “Why should I invest my time in Flutter when there are so many frameworks out there?” Well, personally I have few compelling reasons support you to make the right decision. For real, I have encouraged many developers to start learning Flutter in the early stage since I found out huge potentials out there.

Write Once, Run Anywhere

Let’s face it. I still remember the dates my team need writing separate codebases for iOS and Android. It was a huge pain. By using Flutter framework, you can create a single codebase that allow runs on both platforms (iOS and Android). Yes, you heard that right. It literally save tons of hours of development. No more duplicating efforts for different operating systems. Moreover, it’s not just limited to mobile, you can also use Flutter to build web and desktop applications. Awesome.

Quick question: Wouldn’t it be amazing to cut down your development time by 50% or more? Let me show you a quick “Hello World” example:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(
          title: Text('Hello Flutter!'),
        ),
        body: Center(
          child: Text('Hello World!'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

With just this simple code, you have a working app that runs on both Android and iOS!

High-Performance, Native Apps

For sure, Flutter is not the pioneer of multi-platform support mobile framework. Solutions like PhoneGap, Cordova or Ionic have been dominant the market for long. However, they all have similar performance issues. I still remember those apps created by PhoneGap for our clients response slowly. And then we got the complains and need to redo everything natively with Java and Swift. That’s was an really bad experience.

Flutter isn’t a compromise—it’s powerful enough to deliver native-like performance. Flutter apps are compiled directly into native machine code, and that’s a huge advantage over other cross-platform solutions. What does that mean for you? Blazing-fast performance and an app that looks and feels like it belongs on the device.

3. Rich Set of Widgets

Flutter is built around a widget system. Whether you’re building a simple UI or a complex one, widgets are your building blocks. Every element in Flutter—from buttons to padding—is a widget. What’s more, Flutter provides customizable widgets for both Material Design (Google’s design language) and Cupertino (iOS-style widgets), allowing you to replicate native UI on both platforms effortlessly.

class MyButton extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return RaisedButton(
      onPressed: () {
        print('Button pressed!');
      },
      child: Text('Click Me!'),
    );
  }
}

That’s how easy it is to create a button in Flutter. Just a few lines of code, and boom—you’ve got an interactive UI element!

4. Hot Reload = Instant Feedback

If you’ve ever worked with native development, you know the pain of having to rebuild your entire app every time you make a change. Flutter’s hot reload is a game-changer. With hot reload, you can make changes to your code and see the effects instantly—without restarting your app. It’s like having a magic wand that speeds up your development process and makes debugging a breeze.

Feeling curious? Try tweaking the “Hello World” text in the code example above. You’ll see the result in real-time, thanks to hot reload!

5. Growing Community and Ecosystem

Flutter’s community is exploding, and that’s a huge win for you as a beginner. It means there’s an ever-growing pool of tutorials, plugins, packages, and support forums where you can ask questions and find ready-made solutions. Plus, Flutter is backed by Google, so you can rest assured that this framework is here to stay.

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  firebase_core: latest_version
  firebase_auth: latest_version

In just a few lines, you can integrate Firebase into your Flutter app, enabling powerful features like authentication, real-time databases, and much more!

6. Excellent Documentation

Good documentation is like a lifeline when you’re learning something new, and Flutter’s documentation is top-notch. The official site has comprehensive, easy-to-understand tutorials, guides, and examples. Whether you’re trying to figure out how to set up Flutter or you’re stuck on how to implement a specific widget, the documentation has you covered.

Key Features of Flutter

Flutter Widgets

Widgets are the core building blocks of a Flutter app. Everything from a text element to complex layouts is built using widgets. Flutter provides an extensive set of widgets that adhere to both Material Design and iOS guidelines, allowing you to maintain a native look and feel across platforms.

Here’s a quick look at some common widgets you’ll use:

• Container: The basic layout widget for containing other widgets.
• Text: Displays a string of text.
• Row and Column: Allows you to arrange widgets horizontally or vertically.
• Stack: Layers widgets on top of each other.

class MyContainer extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Container(
      padding: EdgeInsets.all(16.0),
      decoration: BoxDecoration(
        border: Border.all(color: Colors.blue),
      ),
      child: Text('Flutter is amazing!'),
    );
  }
}

Dart Programming Language

Flutter uses Dart, a programming language developed by Google. Dart is easy to pick up if you’ve worked with other programming languages like Java, C++, or JavaScript. It’s an object-oriented language that feels intuitive, especially for developers familiar with popular languages.

void main() {
  var name = 'Flutter Dev';
  print('Hello, $name!');
}

This Dart code prints “Hello, Flutter Dev!” to the console. It’s straightforward and easy to read, making it an ideal language for beginners.

How to Install Flutter

Now that you’re convinced that Flutter is awesome, let’s walk through how to install Flutter on your machine. The setup process is quite simple:

1. Download the Flutter SDK from the official Flutter website.
2. Extract the ZIP file and add the Flutter tool to your path.
3. Run flutter doctor to check if your environment is set up properly. This command will give you insights into any missing dependencies.
4. Install an editor (VS Code or Android Studio is a great choice).
5. Create a new Flutter project using the command:

   flutter create my_first_flutter_app

And that’s it—you’re ready to start building apps with Flutter!

Final Thoughts: Why Flutter is Worth Learning

So, why should you, as a mobile developer, invest time in learning Flutter? The answer boils down to simplicity, versatility, and performance. With a single codebase for all platforms, native performance, and a wide range of widgets and tools, Flutter equips you to build apps faster and more efficiently. Plus, with features like hot reload, you’ll save precious time during development.

In a rapidly evolving tech world, Flutter gives you the competitive edge you need to build modern, high-performance apps across multiple platforms. Whether you’re developing for Android, iOS, or the web, Flutter is a must-have tool in your developer toolbox.