Cross-platform (CP) application development is in the limelight lately, and more so as Google announces Flutter 1.0. Many enterprises are now considering CP for developing any new product.
Google finally unveiled a stable version of their cross-platform mobile app development – Flutter 1.0, Google’s UI toolkit, on 4th December 2018 at the Live event in London.
Cross-Platform SDK
Cross-platform development involves the use of a single codebase for creating software applications that deploy on multiple platforms.
This is particularly put to use when companies wish to sell the same product for more than one software environment such as Windows, Android, and iOS.
Various advantages of using these SDKs are:
- Reusable code
- Convenience
- Maintainable code
- Cost-effective
- Market Reach
Flutter 1.0
CP SDKs are particularly important as developing CP apps can be a total mess of non-native code. This is why Google has set out to create a CP SDK that can integrate smoothly with the editor of your choice.
The recent release comes with a variety of new features such as hot reloading, integrated tooling, reactive framework design, and a considerable selection of widgets. It helps build native apps that are written in the Dart language.
Dart is relatively easy to learn and adds more versatility to the platform. It lets you use the same codebase to create iOS and Android apps.
Announcements from the 2018 Live Event
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Flutter 1.0
Tim Sneath, Group Product Manager for Flutter and Dart, announced the release of its first stable cross-platform mobile app development SDK.
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Flare integration
Integration of Flare helps developers make and import 2D vector designs and animations right into Flutter itself. This brings the Designers and developers to the same platform.
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Dart 2.1
Although Dart was announced before the Live Event, Dart 2.1 launches with Flutter 1.0. Dart 2.1 has various improvements regarding speed and usability.
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In-app payments from Square
One of the biggest payment solutions companies in the US, Square integrates into Flutter. This integration comes with two plugins, in-app purchases SDK and Reader SDK.
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CodeMagic integration
CodeMagic makes CI/CD easy for all apps. With Flutter’s partnership with CodeMagic, developers can now develop mobile applications, create their build, and publish it right from the build system.
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For the Web and beyond
Google has announced that Flutter will be extending from mobile to web through Hummingbird. Hummingbird is Google’s latest project which takes Dart code and compiles it into JavaScript which can then be run on a browser.
Conclusion
With all the features packed in a single package, Flutter 1.0 promises to make cross-platform app development relatively easier than it was before. But all in all, it sure is something worth keeping an eye out for.
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