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Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

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Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#51
post #30

Somewhat of an aside, since this article is about Flutter on embedded systems where React Native isn't even a consideration but... I've used both Flutter and React Native. Hands down, Flutter is the more enjoyable experience. Everything from the language, to the toolkit, to the IDE, to the final product, is just BETTER. React Native is a bloated, hacky, slow, garbage pile by comparison.

I can't figure out flutter. I see so many rave reviews. But I personally tried it and strongly disliked it. The toolkit and Android Studio run horribly slow - like really slow. And the output is basically this generation's flash. Some of the samples I tried on their gallery are mediocre. Very slight, but noticeable sluggishness. Some are just terrible; the 2d transformations moves at like 7fps. Plus there are so many…

- Flutter has built-in hot reload that enables fast iterations when designing an app. When you need to reset state though you have to reload the app which takes some time but it's not horribly slow.

- The performance of production builds is really good, better than any other cross-platform solution including web apps, PWAs, react native. I've got flutter apps running great on my cheap, old (circa 2015) phone with android 6.0. That's also a huge benefit of flutter, it can target older phones because it doesn't have many dependencies on native widgets etc, it just need a canvas to render.

- Dart not being a successful alternative to js(dart2js compiler), doesn't mean it's a bad language. In fact, Dart 2.0 was a serious update and the language now is great, with sane defaults and a nice standard library. I can't imagine any serious developer who knows at least one popular programming language like java,js,c# that would have problem with Dart. It's very easy to get used to it a couple of hours

> there are objective facts about it that are bad, and yet so many people love it.

can you elaborate more about those facts?

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#52
post #46

Flutter looks great, and I seriously considered it for my next project. In the end I decided the possibility of Google getting bored and ending support was enough to tip me to using Qt Quick instead - even though I kinda dislike Qt and js, and will have to pay for it.

Well, Flutter is open source, so even if Google dropped support (extremely unlikely), it will likely continue on.

It will likely not continue

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#53

Flutter is awesome! I truly believe it is a game changer for startups pushing an MVP as fast as possible. One codebase to build apps on iOS, Android and for the web (as soon as they improve the web one to the release version) is great, and Flutter is fun to use. The drawback could be the many states of management... But that is not a deal breaker

The state management is THE headache of Flutter IMO. There are many options now and I expect Google is following this development closely. Sooner or later they'll either endorse a solution or come up with something better.

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#54
post #49
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't figure out flutter. I see so many rave reviews. But I personally tried it and strongly disliked it. The toolkit and Android Studio run horribly slow - like really slow. And the output is basically this generation's flash. Some of the samples I tried on their gallery are mediocre. Very slight, but noticeable sluggishness. Some are just terrible; the 2d transformations moves at like 7fps. Plus there are so many…

Were you running debug or release builds? Your experience with sluggishness is very atypical.

Very typical for debug builds though. It's really surprising how big the difference is! Especially on slow hardware. The last app I tested went from almost unusable sluggish to buttery smooth when changing from debug to profile/release mode.

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#55
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't figure out flutter. I see so many rave reviews. But I personally tried it and strongly disliked it. The toolkit and Android Studio run horribly slow - like really slow. And the output is basically this generation's flash. Some of the samples I tried on their gallery are mediocre. Very slight, but noticeable sluggishness. Some are just terrible; the 2d transformations moves at like 7fps. Plus there are so many…

Flutter is just for people who need to get something basic done without too much trouble, I think. It's been over a decade of mobile UI iteration and we still don't have something that does everything for all OSes in a declarative way, so I think we are just doomed to writing a native app for each platform if you want performance, correctness in terms of UI, and productivity.

And on the other side there is Ionic which is has no real performance issues (contrary to flutter), has the biggest ecosystem (the web) and is elegant, expressive, simple -> The thousands of powerful web APIs, Angular and typescript

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#56
post #24

Somewhat of an aside, since this article is about Flutter on embedded systems where React Native isn't even a consideration but... I've used both Flutter and React Native. Hands down, Flutter is the more enjoyable experience. Everything from the language, to the toolkit, to the IDE, to the final product, is just BETTER. React Native is a bloated, hacky, slow, garbage pile by comparison.

Took me a while to get on board with Flutter, only really started enjoying it after I gave it a few goes. Coming to Dart after Swift and Kotlin feels like a big downgrade but languages aren't that important, as you said the whole environment is so much more streamlined than Android dev. I'm using it for Android only however and keeping my existing iOS app in Swift.

Off topic but regarding language design, what are some pros about swift that Kotlin hasn't?

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#58
post #52
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Flutter is open source, so even if Google dropped support (extremely unlikely), it will likely continue on.

It will likely not continue

Do you mean Google's support will likely not continue or that the project will not continue if Google pulls its support.

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#59
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't figure out flutter. I see so many rave reviews. But I personally tried it and strongly disliked it. The toolkit and Android Studio run horribly slow - like really slow. And the output is basically this generation's flash. Some of the samples I tried on their gallery are mediocre. Very slight, but noticeable sluggishness. Some are just terrible; the 2d transformations moves at like 7fps. Plus there are so many…

I've been following Dart since it's first release in 2012. I was able to be productive with right away back then. The JavaScript community freaked out because some Google exec in an email said Dart was a JavaScript killer. That did a lot of damage to it's acceptance. Dart was written with 2 things in mind afaik: 1) Replace Java based Google Web Kit used to write JavaScript (GMail circa mid 2000's) and 2) to serve as…

> and I think by that comparison, Flutter wins hands down.

I'd be interested to hear your experience about why that is.

Re: Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

#60

I'll be the contrarian: Is this a good business decision? Sony has recently stated that it wants to enter the automotive industry but Google is a direct competitor with Waymo and their Nest product has a pretty firm standing in the smart home appliance environment. Is it wise to basically become dependent on a large competitor for such an integral component of your next generation products? What if Google decides to…

Sony offer solutions and experience. They have lots of experience doing that. I am sure changing the technology behind their solution will not be a problem as users don't see it at all.
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