Flutter 1.17 New Features & Dart 2.8 Roadmap Update

The newest releases for Flutter and Dart are out. Flutter and dart go connected hand in hand. Flutter focusses on performance improvements and Dart incorporates new package management tools. The cross-platform programming framework now offers an improved UI framework for building iOS, Android, Fuchsia, and desktop apps. Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8 SDKs are the first stable releases in 2020.

Flutter usage is developing consistently among big business clients specifically, and research continues to show that the capacity to manufacture exceptionally highly-branded experiences supporting multiple platforms is a key reason why larger companies select Flutter. Being a Flutter app development company this article will share insight on key factors why bigger organizations select Flutter as a framework to develop an app.

This stable version released on the 6th of May, 2020, has more to offer, apart from basic updates. Let's dive in deep into what these are about and look into the features.

Flutter 1.17 Features

Google's cross-stage programming structure for creating applications has picked up popularity in the current time. Developers build applications for Android, iOS, web, and desktop with a unified UI utilizing Flutter. Flutter 1.17 is the principal stable channel that designers have gotten in 2020. There have been 6,339 issues that has been fixed by Google since v1.12 release. So let's see what's new in Flutter 1.17.

Dart 2.8

The programming language utilized for building applications in Flutter has gotten the new update. In Dart 2.8, Google has improved the pub customer tool, which is utilized to oversee packages downloaded from pub.dev vault. There is an expansion of groundwork for Sound null safety. This will help in diminishing the application crashes working with Flutter. Google needs developers to realize these breaking changes and record issues that they face. Let's have a look at the features:

Features of Dart 2.8

For the new update, the team has announced its effort to improve the null safety feature. They have planned to address the: billion-dollar-mistake” of references, however, the final testing is yet to be carried out.
Dart 2.8 will run a few edge cases and library changes, keeping intact the rest of the code.
With the dart 2. The pub seemed to have crossed 10000 packages which has improved visibility and recommendations visuals.
The improved Pubget in Dart 2.8 will be less time-consuming in order to fetch all the packages and the versions.
This new version has brought in another feature which has been an eye-catcher to thousands of developers i.e the introduction of “ out-of-date” dependencies. This feature helps to identify any outdated version by writing only the pub outdated command, followed with a list of outdated versions that will be available along with the new ones.
A new tab has been added in Dart 2.8 networking tool which assists in checking all the network requests. It can either be done manually or by using a tab.
Dev plugins channel has also been introduced for the developers.
Flutter 1.17 will now create AnbdroidX which provides advanced android functionality known as Android Jetpack.

Performance improvements:

The significant feature of Flutter 1.17 is performance. Amongst all the features of flutter 1.17, this holds a primary place. Developers and designers can see 20-37% of speedup for default route cases in Flutter 1.17. There are hazy routes with no transparency with this version. To name a few,

The speed performance of the apps built with the updated version of Flutter will observe a speedy rise of 20-30 percent when compared to the previous version.
There is likewise a significant improvement in application sizes built with Flutter 1.17 as compared to apps built with previous versions.
On the memory decrease front, Flutter offers an 80% memory decrease in quick looking through enormous pictures.
The scrolling feature changes through large images will reduce memory usage by almost 70 percent.
The animation packages are improved which in a way contributes to speed performance.

Material widgets:

The latest version flutter enables building applications using NavigationRail. This is a widget update that allows to add desktop and mobile elements to the apps. There are two other widget updates associated with the new version namely datePicker and TextSelection.

TextSelection issues seem to have been fixed with Flutter 1.17 and Fidelity for ios and android buttons has also been improved. With the new version Google releases a new Animation package, where one can perform the shared transition and container transformations and many more.

Google Fonts:

Google fonts for the updated version have been released and you can be able to use any fonts from fonts.google.com. It is up to the developers to choose to want to bundle the font with APK or download it using API.

Breaking changes:

The minimization of the number of breaking changes with every new version helps to balance the intuitive ability that flutter provides, along with the flexible API that supports new idioms on new platforms.

MGM and Superformula:

These features of Flutter 1.17 help in creating beautiful app experiences. The Superformula is a product of a digital agency. When this teams up with MGMResorts they create a new MGM design language for major web, and mobile experiences. With the new Flutter codebase, the apps were rebuilt faster than before, increasing the overall booking conversions for MGM by 9 %.

Dart DevTools port to Flutter:

The new Flutter version brings in implemented dart Dev tools with all kinds of improvements. The new Network tab however being the biggest one. This Network tab shows network traffic for the flutter application.

Other Minor updates in Flutter v 1.17:

The new update there has been an improvement in the accessibility and internationalization along with the scrolling issues and text input widget.
With the latest version of Flutter the keyboard issue has also been resolved.
Flutter 1.17 has completed the Google Implementation of Type Scale portion Material design specification without affecting the existing apps.
Android x is used as default now.
Hot Reload feature and Google features have improved.
The “ Fast start” option has been facilitated in Flutter 1.17. All the plugins and codes are loaded except for the dart codes and assets. The fast start option enables bootstrapping applications to quickly rebuild applications.
For any issue with the Flutter application there is a link in the console which redirects the issue to the GitHub. This happens to be an extremely useful feature for developers.

Conclusion:

As promising as Flutter seems to be in solving all the issues faced earlier by the developers It has grown to be one of the most popular mobile app development frameworks.. Flutter 1.17 along with dart 2.8 stable SDKs are more surely going to build stronger apps across the platforms for any application development. With all that power and capability, Flutter is going to make its mark by developing consistently among big business.