Flutter: Getting Started

This course is exactly what I need in order to commence my Flutter development. I’m only half way through, so far, but this is enough to convince me that Flutter is indeed the best way for me to proceed.

There are step-by-step instructions for building a number of simple apps. Although I am copying the code provided, it is helping me to gain an understanding of how the Dart language is used to nest widgets in order to build up screen layouts. Here are photos of the two apps that I have built with this course to date:

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The tutorial uses Visual Studio Code as it’s IDE, whereas I am using Android Studio, due to my familiarity with it. There have been a few instances where I’ve needed to use Google to find the AS equivalent of a VSC keystroke or function, but on the whole, it hasn’t really posed much of an issue.

The tutorial also uses an earlier version of Dart. I came across a situation where a void class was used in the tutorial to return a null response, which worked fine for the instructor. But when I came to run the code, Android Studio flagged an error. A little research informed me that Dart version 2 treats void classes differently to version 1. I need to find and take a general Dart course to help me to become comfortable with Dart, and fully understand this void situation. However, I managed to overcome the runtime error by bringing the commands within the void class into the main class. I know that this is not the optimal solution, but with my current lack of Dart knowledge, it was the best fix that I could apply to make the app work as it should.

When I compare my (albeit, currently short) experience of Dart and Flutter to a similar point in my learning Java for Android, Dart and Flutter seem to be so much easier to take on board. It took me a long time to get to grips with Java (the first real Object Orientated Programming language that I had experienced). Although I was beginning to feel some semblance of a level of confidence with it come the end of my nanodegree course, I was still unable to build complex code structures, such as recycler views, asynchronous tasks and JSON readers, without following along with a tutorial. I’m sure this will be the same with Flutter, but I suspect that this stage will not last nearly as long, as the code seems to be far simpler. Flutter also offers on-screen options that appear as you commence typing, making it a far more intuitive coding experience than Java is. Having said that, I fully appreciate that the Java learning experience is helping to make learning Flutter easier than it otherwise would have been, so i still consider that to be time well spent.

The hot reload function that Flutter offers is also a huge development-time advantage over the Java method of rebuilding the app every time you want to see your code running on a device or emulator. After the first load,hot reload simply sends and implements just the changes that have been made to the code, and so it is infinitely quicker, less than a second in some cases (as opposed to minutes), saving a considerable amount of development time over the course of a project.

This early on, the one area that is causing me problems (so far) is using the correct bracket type – (,{ or [ – and punctuation marks – colons, semicolon and commas – in the right place for the widgets to be properly nested. It can get quite confusing, but it’s just a case of practice makes perfect. Completing this course and going through the other 2 Flutter courses will provide me with plenty of practice in this area, but I also think that a general Dart beginners course will be really useful with this too, so I will seek some out.

I can see a lot of potential for Flutter. I have very much enjoyed my first real experience with it, and I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time learning. Disappointingly, for the next couple of weeks, the app jam will have to take priority and so I will be unable to afford as much time as I would like, if any, with Flutter tutorials. I’m hoping that the workload will calm down a bit after that, so I can get the opportunity spend some good quality time establishing some solid Flutter skills.