Programming Flutter: Native, Cross-Platform Apps the Easy Way

by Carmine Zaccagnino

Work in Flutter, a framework designed from the ground up for dual platform development, with support for native Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift methods from Flutter apps. Write your next app in one language and build it for both Android and iOS. Deliver the native look, feel, and performance you and your users expect from an app written with each platform's own tools and languages. Deliver apps fast, doing half the work you were doing before and exploiting powerful new features to speed up development. Write once, run anywhere. Learn Flutter, Google's multi-platform mobile development framework. Instantly view the changes you make to an app with stateful hot reload and define a declarative UI in the same language as the app logic, without having to use separate XML UI files. You can also reuse existing platform-specific Android and iOS code and interact with it in an efficient and simple way. Use built-in UI elements - or build your own - to create a simple calculator app. Run native Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift methods from your Flutter apps, and use a Flutter package to make HTTP requests to a Web API or to perform read and write operations on local storage. Apply visual effects to widgets, create transitions and animations, create a chat app using Firebase, and deploy everything on both platforms. Get native look and feel and performance in your Android and iOS apps, and the ability to build for both platforms from a single code base. What You Flutter can be used for Android development on any Linux, Windows or macOS computer, but macOS is needed for iOS development.

275 pages, Paperback

Published February 11, 2020

Reviews

[Nikolay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok as a quick start, but I'm underwhelmed by quality of code examples and misleading statements like that:

In order to avoid build issues and as general good practice, the name of the directory that contains the root of the project (the lib directory and the pubspec.yaml file) should be the same as the Dart package name.

And right next to that we see an example of pubspec.yaml file under firstapp/ folder with module name flutter_example_name.

[Zaher Katsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a few pages of the book. It is amazing. It covers even firebase. I recommend it to everyone.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book covers important aspects of Flutter and Dart. The coverage makes it appealing and useful in practice (expected from this collection). My main problem with it is the “patchwork” feel, making it sometimes frustrating to read. Second, the editing is disappointing, with too many simple mistakes.

I have used Flutter for two years at time of reading, to refine my on-the-job practice. This experience allowed me to follow and complete quickly, but difficult to recommend to someone either beginner at mobile development or programming.

[Luis Segura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good beginner book.