Flutter for Beginners

Key Features

• Get up to speed with the basics of Dart programming and delve into Flutter development
• Learn about Flutter widgets, plugins, and animations to create a high-quality, user-friendly app
• Package and deploy your Flutter apps to achieve native-like performance
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

There have been many attempts at creating frameworks that are truly cross-platform, but most struggle to create a native-like experience at high-performance levels. Flutter achieves this with an elegant design and a wealth of third-party plugins, solidifying its status as the future of mobile app development. If you are a mobile developer who wants to create rich and expressive native apps with the latest Google Flutter framework, this book is for you.

You’ll start with the basics of cross-platform development frameworks, specifically Flutter. You’ll then explore the Dart programming language which is the foundation of the Flutter framework. Next, you’ll get a feel for Flutter and how to create your first app, followed by an exploration of the various popular plugins that supplement the Flutter framework. Finally, you’ll explore testing and app release, including some common glitches that you may experience.

By the end of this book, you’ll be well-equipped to create and release a basic Flutter app along with gaining a solid understanding of the Flutter framework and Dart language.

What you will learn

• Understand the Flutter framework and cross-platform development
• Acclimate the fundamentals of the Dart programming language
• Explore Flutter widgets, the core widget library, and stateful and stateless widgets
• Discover the complete development lifecycle, including testing and debugging
• Get familiar with both the mobile and web app release processes
• Dig deeper into more advanced Flutter concepts like animation
• Explore common Flutter plugins ad how to use them
• Discover the Flutter community and how to stay up-to-date

Who this book is for

If you are an existing mobile developer seeking a better way to develop cross-platform apps, an existing software developer looking to explore mobile app development, or someone investigating mobile apps and simply wants to know what the Flutter fuss is about, this is the book for you. Prior knowledge of Flutter and Dart is not required.

Table of Contents

1. What Is Flutter and Why Should I Use It?
2. An Introduction to Dart
3. Flutter versus Other Frameworks
4. Dart Classes and Constructs
5. Building Your User Interface through Widgets
6. Handling User Input and Gestures
7. Let's Get Graphical!
8. Routing – Navigating between Screens
9. Flutter Plugins – Get Great Functionality for Free!
10. Popular Third-Party Plugins
11. Using Widget Manipulations and Animations
12. Testing and Debugging
13. Releasing Your App to the World

Thomas Bailey has an extensive background in tech, working for companies and high profile firms as a senior developer, solutions architect and IT director. His education technology company uses Flutter solely as the technology powering their education apps, and he has enjoyed watching Flutter move its initial beta release to a fully fledged and highly popular framework we see today.

Alessandro Biessek was born in the beautiful city of Chapecó, in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, in 1993. He is currently working on mobile application development for Android and iOS in his hometown. He has more than 9 years of experience in development, from desktop development with Delphi to backend with PHP, Node.js, Golang, mobile development with Apache Flex, and Java/Kotlin. Most of his time is devoted to the development of Android apps. Always interested in new technologies, he has been following the Flutter framework for a long time, shown through its growth and adoption in recent months.