Flutter for cross-platform App and SDK development
Lukas Dagne · Theseus (Ammattikorkeakoulujen) · 2019
Mobile application and SDK development involves informed decision making to select the most efficient and fitting toolkit for a project. This thesis aims to determine how Flutter UI toolkit compares to native and other cross-platform options. It investigates the framework’s internals as well as its overall architecture to identify its strengths and weaknesses as a competitive cross-platform option. In contrast to most cross-platform solutions that build on top of native UI frameworks, Flutter provides its own UI components along with innovative rendering mechanism. As a result, the framework poses a strong competition towards native development regardless of its cross-platform aspect. Based on research and conducted experiments, the author concludes that Flutter is the perfect choice for cross-platform mobile application and SDK development. Its superior fast development cycle, smart techniques of accessing platform services and the resulting smooth user experience makes it stand out. Some of its weaknesses such as strict and inflexible project structure are outweighed by the overall systematically layered design of the framework and its openness for external contributions. Flutter is at its early stage. Therefore, the above arguments only get stronger as the framework grows.