Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
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Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
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Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#2Dart could very well end up being the secret weapon behind Flutter. Not only does Dart compile to JavaScript -- it's done this from day 1 -- but it also compiles to ARM binary via LLVM for iOS applications... meaning that compiling to WASM should be a trivial option to enable bringing near-native computational speeds to any targeted platform.
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#3I’ve given Flutter a try with one of my client’s apps, and in some cases, it’s obviously better than native development. Mainly because you can develop for both platforms. I’d be curious to hear where other developers think Flutter is a good framework to use instead of developing native code.
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#4Dart could very well end up being the secret weapon behind Flutter. Not only does Dart compile to JavaScript -- it's done this from day 1 -- but it also compiles to ARM binary via LLVM for iOS applications... meaning that compiling to WASM should be a trivial option to enable bringing near-native computational speeds to any targeted platform.
As of the latest dev version of the Dart SDK, you can actually even build native binaries from VM apps with their AOT compilation tools.
Combine this with the fact that Flutter has announced that they intend for desktop support, and I think the future is pretty bright...
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#5Dart could very well end up being the secret weapon behind Flutter. Not only does Dart compile to JavaScript -- it's done this from day 1 -- but it also compiles to ARM binary via LLVM for iOS applications... meaning that compiling to WASM should be a trivial option to enable bringing near-native computational speeds to any targeted platform.
> but it also compiles to ARM binary via LLVM for iOS applications
[disclaimer: I am TL for Dart Native Compilers]
We currently don't use LLVM for compiling Dart to native and we actually never used it in production - though we previously built couple of prototypes to evaluate potential benefits of using LLVM.
We use our own AOT compilation toolchain which has roots in our JIT compiler for Dart.
> meaning that compiling to WASM should be a trivial option
It's not really trivial because you still need to figure out some things - most importantly GC. On ARM you can scan the stack - on WASM you can't. They are working on GC support from WASM, but I don't think it is ready yet. And some things are just unfortunate (e.g. i31ref type which mimics V8's SMI - Dart SMI's are 63-bit on 64-bit platforms).
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#6I’ve given Flutter a try with one of my client’s apps, and in some cases, it’s obviously better than native development. Mainly because you can develop for both platforms. I’d be curious to hear where other developers think Flutter is a good framework to use instead of developing native code.
On iOS it's obvious it uses emulated controls.
I think if you want a fully themed app that looks the same across all environments, you should go with Flutter.
If you want an app that looks the same as other native apps on the target environment, you should go with React Native.
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#7I wonder if the Flutter engine would work on a Linux system that has only 128MB or 256MB?
I've been playing around with devices like this https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WiFi-Display-Dongle-1080P-Wirele... and it would be fun to run Flutter engine on them.
edit - would also be fun on the 4GB RAM rk3399 http://rockchip.wikidot.com/rk3399 tv box:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/X99-TV-BOX-4K-UHD-RK3399-4GB-32G...
open source LInux support is here: https://github.com/rockchip-linux
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#8I’ve given Flutter a try with one of my client’s apps, and in some cases, it’s obviously better than native development. Mainly because you can develop for both platforms. I’d be curious to hear where other developers think Flutter is a good framework to use instead of developing native code.
Lots of businesses are desperate for cross platform mobile dev (I'm not looking at you ), it seems to be an inevitability at this point.
In the meantime React Native has come along and I don't think it's made a good name for itself in the mobile dev world. RN projects get littered with poorly implemented third party libraries that aim to bridge a piece of native functionality or SDK into the react context. I've just spent the last 6 months as a contractor running around fixing companies' RN apps for Android that had obscure build issues and dependency problems, along with all the weird UI stuff that just doesn't work the same as it does on iOS and it's not been fun.
After playing with Flutter for a bit it looks great. I just hope it isn't susceptible to the same issues I faced with React Native.
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#9Dart could very well end up being the secret weapon behind Flutter. Not only does Dart compile to JavaScript -- it's done this from day 1 -- but it also compiles to ARM binary via LLVM for iOS applications... meaning that compiling to WASM should be a trivial option to enable bringing near-native computational speeds to any targeted platform.
> but it also compiles to ARM binary via LLVM for iOS applications [disclaimer: I am TL for Dart Native Compilers] We currently don't use LLVM for compiling Dart to native and we actually never used it in production - though we previously built couple of prototypes to evaluate potential benefits of using LLVM. We use our own AOT compilation toolchain which has roots in our JIT compiler for Dart. > meaning that compil…
I stand corrected -- is there a blog post or other deep-dive material where I could learn more?
Re: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop
#10I’ve given Flutter a try with one of my client’s apps, and in some cases, it’s obviously better than native development. Mainly because you can develop for both platforms. I’d be curious to hear where other developers think Flutter is a good framework to use instead of developing native code.
I have so little faith in Google producing code that us usable by mere mortals. Could I please be proven wrong?