Getting Started with Flutter

Flutter is one of the new tools in the business. But all the features that it packs along with dart as the main language, it had made me fall in love with it. After periodical advances and the regular introduction of new packages, Flutter tends to be taking the crown from java and XML for app development. The cross-Platform ability of flutter is just a cherry on top.

As the material theme by google is becoming the talk of the town and the importance for every web and app design, it's just the treat having a whole library and the easiest integration of material elements using flutter. Probably you have also heard about flutter from either your college seniors, youtube tutorial or from various technical webinars and are feeling confused on how to start, Here is a guide to help you excel in Flutter.

1. The first step is to get a basic idea of what flutter really is.

Flutter is an open-source cross-platform mobile application SDK developed by Google. It is used to develop both Android and iOS applications. Flutter is written in Dart language. Those familiar with Object-Oriented Languages such as Java, Javascript, Objective C, or Swift can easily relate to Dart.

Flutter also has some very big advantages:

• Saves companies need to employ different iOS and Android developers to build the same app since it supports cross-platform development.
• Eliminates building same interface twice hence saving time
• Allows you to experience native look and feel of mobile applications
• Allows you to create 2D effects, games, and animation
• High-velocity development giving the hot reload feature

2. The Language Dart

The first thing before diving into flutter, learn about Dart. Dart will take you through the Object-Oriented Programming concepts that you need to grasp like variables, classes, methods, functions, Operators, Control flow statements, Exceptions like throw, catch, finally, and Datatypes like Strings, Maps, Lists among others.

You could check https://www.dartlang.org/ to get started on Dart Language.

3. Writing your first Flutter App

After going through the basic OOP programming concepts like looping, functions, variables, classes, and conditional statements, you are now confident enough to start up your first Flutter Application. Everything in flutter is a widget including screens, texts, graphics, Containers, etc. UI design in Flutter involves creating widgets.

You can check out https://flutter.dev/docs/get-started/codelab to start up your first hello world flutter app. You can either use your phone or an emulator to run your app using the command flutter run.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(MyApp());

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

 This is basic codes to have an App bar that displays "Welcome To FLutter" and a centered text on-screen as "Hello World".

4. Udacity Flutter Course.

Google also offers a free Flutter Udacity course. You could go through this to get a sneak peek of how flutter apps work. You could do this practice to enhance your understanding.

5. LondonAppBrewery Course.

Visit https://www.appbrewery.co/p/intro-to-flutter to get this free course from londonappbrewery.

6. Lastly, attend Flutter Study Jams, meetups, and Developer’s Conferences.

It feels good to attend study jams, meetups, and developer conferences to improve on your flutter knowledge and get guided through what problems you might have in flutter.

Above all, you can peer learn with your friends, to assist in debugging and improving ideas.

Happy Fluttering, Thank You 😍