After the big premiere of Flutter 2, Google has shown that it wants to continue to develop the framework, which is just one of their many projects that we all know about what happens to most of them. We no longer have to worry about the future of our framework as Google wants to make its mark in the mobile cross-platform world forever. Flutter is starting to mature.
In 2021, he announced Flutter 2.2.0 at Google I/O. Flutter included over 1,000 PR mergers and more. Which included Flutter Web, iOS improvements, a new Dart release, new packages, device improvements, and more. In this article, we will talk about three changes that I think will prove to be important for the future of Flutter developers:
- Official Docker Support & Dart on Google Cloud
We are getting tested and validated Dart images on Docker, which supports AOT compilation. Dart on the backend is nothing new. We have projects like Aqueduct, Angel or Jaguar built in, as well as complex server frameworks built by the community. Having only Flutter developers in the team creating frontend and backend with one programming language can have huge advantages. Everyone has equal knowledge about the project as there is no division between backend and frontend devs. We write in a common language, so there is some room for re-use of components as well.
If we have only one dev, for example, to maintain the project, then that person can easily switch between platforms. If necessary, the backend can be viewed without waiting for the dev to make changes. But backends written in Dart are not a popular solution, and you can easily see this by activity in the packages I mentioned earlier.
As of this update, Google supports that approach. They also worked with a community on a package that allows us to use Cloud Functions in Dart while supporting serverless solutions. I hope this update will inspire the community to return to this topic.
Also Read : What is Flutter ?
2. iOS Performance Improvement
This update is included in preview and not in production use. They finally took care of the legendary iOS junk. I have seen many tweets or YouTube videos saying that because of this, Flutter on iOS is completely useless. We, as Flutter developers, know that compiling shaders only happens in special cases, so we can avoid increasing the rendering performance. But from a user point of view, when this happens it’s a serious issue, it can make them delete the application in the worst case. Google came up with the idea of caching the shaders so that they are drawn before the first frame. But it was working only on OpenGL. We know this because, with Metal enabled on iOS by default, this problem still exists.
From this PR we can see that along with the metal, the ability to warm up the shades is also going to be available. If you want to try it, make sure you are on the dev channel. The first user experience is important from a business point of view. Too long loading indicators, poor UX, or non-performing animations can cause users to remove your application. It would be really nice to see Google and the community collaborating on this problem.
3. Community Appreciation
One thing that Google does better than Apple is to pay attention to its community. They do this by organizing social media initiatives at every event. The best watches are written in Flutter, send photos to appear at upcoming Google events, create your own Dash avatar, have fun with Flutter-related filters, and more. Community flutter is considered an integral part of development. They let developers maintain core widgets, add some popular packages they appreciate to Flutter favorites, and they even mention some packages in their tutorials!
Google makes you feel that the framework is yours, the developers, and not Alphabet’s stakeholders. From a marketing point of view, this is the right way to develop your product. The more you think about engaging the community, the more feedback you’re likely to get. Users are the best testers of your product. Same goes with Flutter. The reason we are talking about all this today is because in Flutter 2.2.0, Google has also started recognizing its community. This package created by Remi Roussel is now available for debugging in DevTools, it’s just a great step forward.
Future is Bright
Those are three things that mean Google is really serious about Flutter and the times when people were wondering when this project would take off. We at Droids On Roids love Flutter. We work as an experienced Flutter development company, and we are very much looking forward to the next update.