Get ready for some mind-blowing updates from Google! The tech giant brought its A-game to the table on the Google I/O keynote day, firing off a slew of exciting announcements at lightning speed during its developer conference. From cutting-edge AI advancements to the latest phone releases, Google covered it all. But there's one area that really stole the show: Flutter!
Flutter has received some seriously cool updates that are sure to impress even the most seasoned developers. And for those of you who don't have time to watch the full keynote, we've got you covered with a super quick rundown of the highlights.
Improving Experiences with Dart 3
In the latest version, Flutter 3.10, not only are they pushing the limits with breakthrough graphics performance and richer web support, they're also introducing improvements to developer productivity.
But the real star of the show is the long-awaited release of Dart 3, which marks a significant milestone in the Dart ecosystem. With sound null safety now fully implemented, developers can finally write null-safe code and protect against programming bugs that arise from uninitialized values.
And that's not all - Dart 3 brings with it a slew of other new features like records, patterns, and class modifiers, which will make your Dart code more readable and fluid than ever before.
Flutter itself is already reaping the benefits of these new features, and you will too.
Web and Flutter = together forever
Flutter 3.10 brings a whole new level of performance and functionality to the table. Flutter is not just another web framework, it's a game-changing architectural marvel designed to take advantage of emerging web technologies like CanvasKit and WebAssembly. With Flutter 3.10, you can experience lightning-fast load times and a 42% reduction in load time for the default counter app, thanks to major optimizations that reduced the size of CanvasKit to 1.5MB from 2.7MB in the previous version.
But that's not all, they've also introduced element embedding, allowing Flutter content to be integrated just like any other CSS element on a page, while supporting complex CSS transitions and transformations.
As if that wasn't enough, Flutter 3.10 now supports fragment shaders on the web, enabling developers to create stunning graphical effects beyond what the Flutter SDK provides. This cutting-edge feature is made possible by executing small GLSL programs authored in a Dart-like language on the user’s GPU. The future of web and app development has never looked brighter with Flutter 3.10 leading the way.
Impeller, making graphics more… graphic!
Flutter's quest to provide developers and designers with unparalleled graphical power is taking a big step forward.
The revolutionary Impeller engine, which has been rebuilt from the ground up for speed and performance, is now turned on by default for iOS, delivering significant performance gains to apps.
Flutter has been working tirelessly with early adopters to validate Impeller's production quality and fine-tune its performance, and now, with Impeller enabled, the team is turning its sights towards Android.
Impeller on Android will leverage Vulkan's low-level APIs for speedy rendering on modern devices, while still maintaining backward compatibility for older devices. The future of Flutter's graphical capabilities has never been brighter!
To close off
Flutter has received some serious updates, with Flutter 3.10 introducing improvements to both developer productivity and web functionality. With the long-awaited release of Dart 3, developers can finally write null-safe code, leading to fewer programming bugs and smoother operations.
Flutter 3.10's new level of performance and functionality, including element embedding and fragment shaders, has enabled developers to create stunning graphical effects beyond what the Flutter SDK provides. The Impeller engine, rebuilt from the ground up for speed and performance, is now turned on by default for iOS, delivering significant performance gains to apps. The team is now working to enable Impeller on Android, leveraging Vulkan's low-level APIs for speedy rendering.
These exciting updates in Flutter are sure to impress even the most seasoned developers. Google's focus on improving developer productivity and graphical power is a testament to its commitment to staying ahead of the curve and pushing the boundaries of what is possible. With Flutter's continued growth and success, the future of app and web development has never looked brighter.
If you'd like to find out how Flutter fits with your app development goals, drop us a message.