Given how dependent we are on mobile apps in our daily lives, a great focus has shifted to making app development as approachable as possible without giving up quality. Cross-platform application development solutions developed by major technology companies are trying to deliver this particular necessity.
In this article, we’ll review two most popular frameworks and programming languages for building mobile apps, and see what makes them the best option for developing your mobile app.
Introducing Flutter
Flutter is a free and open source mobile user interface development solution by Google launched in May 2017. Basically, using Flutter, you can build your own mobile application by applying only a single code array. This means that you can go with a single programming language and a single code base to produce two apps (iOS and Android).
Flutter almost instantly broke into the top rating of the most popular frameworks for application development because of these capabilities. It was created in 2015, but undergone testing for a long time, and was finally released only in 2018. Google is constantly advertising the framework, and it is gaining its popularity among developers. Even if some people are not eager to switch to Flutter, the advantages and opportunities predict that Flutter will soon be able to take over native development for Android.
Flutter focuses at two important things:
- SDK (Software Development Kit): A set of tools that assist you in developing applications. It includes tools for compiling code in native machine code (code for iOS and Android).
- Framework (Widget-based User interface Library): A collection of functional user interface components (buttons, text inputs, sliders, etc.) that can be modified in accordance to your personal preferences.
Introducing Kotlin
Kotlin is a relatively young programming language launched in the market by the Russian company JetBrains. This language was developed in 2011, but properly succeeded only in 2017, when Android developers announced at the Google international conference that Kotlin native received full support for building applications for the Android operating system.
To put it simply, Kotlin is a statistically typed language that supports both procedural and objective-oriented programming. It is often set side by side with the Java language, with which, interestingly, it is fully compatible. It could be the next stage in the development of Java, to offer an improved version that can work more efficiently and faster.
Benefits of Kotlin
- It’s a structured language. The code scripted in Kotlin will look clean and noticeably smaller than in the same Java. The language is very understandable and concise.
- Fully compatible with Java. The same classes will run perfectly on both Java and Kotlin, which offers flexibility for the developer. For instance, a programmer can apply both languages in one project.
- Due to Google’s support, Kotlin has got a new version and has fewer flaws than before. Despite the fact that it is relatively new, it is user-friendly, and receieves no complaints from developers.
- It has a large number of extensions, named arguments, and other key features.
- Lack of academic foundation. Kotlin is an industrial language that was not made in a laboratory academic environment. The developers particularly created it in order to have effective applications for Android. This means that applications scripted in Kotlin Native have fewer issues and more flexibility.
Flutter vs Kotlin Differences
Flutter enables you to produce a cross-platform application for several operating systems. Actually, it turns out to be a mobile application that can run independently, without a browser. Yet, its advertisement is only possible within the apps market.
Kotlin Native is a programming language that was developers because of Java. Precisely, Kotlin is Java’s simplified version with improved functionality. In order to write an application in this language, you need to know your way around it, as well as have some knowledge of Java. Clean code is written, visualization and design development also look clear and simple. The main characteristic is the absence of unnecessary data, so the application is not heavy and multi-functional. And all the visual component stays on the background.
Comparing Flutter and Kotlin
User Interface
Selecting Flutter for app development will let you use different widgets. These widgets decrease development time by calling mobile solution individually and proactively. All in all, Flutter is a software development kit made specifically to support user interface development.
Kotlin enables developers to have an absolute comprehension of the implementation, behavior, and design of applications the way they need. It does not have any restrictions or pre-designed solutions-thereby giving developers the freedom to apply local widgets and libraries. This feature is very similar to native app development.
Performance
Kotlin and Flutter have their own performance pros and cons. One of the most interesting features of Flutter is the hot reload and hot restart function, which offers developers the chance to modify and optimize their code and instantly check user interface changes, speeding up development time and making it faster to build applications.
This usage of native components allows Kotlin developed apps run as efficiently as they would as natively developed apps. This is a remarkable advantage for various developers looking to make something grander than just an MVP.
Kotlin, on the other hand, offers more access to native features and items like camera, Bluetooth, etc., when in Flutter they are obtained via libraries and written in native languages like Kotlin, Java, Swift, or objective C.
Community Support
As Kotlin is still new to many, libraries and community support is quite small still needs some catching up. There already are a few basic libraries and it is constantly upgrading and being invested in.
Due to Flutter’s growing popularity, it has already surpassed other open-source frameworks in both demand and community support. As of now, Flutter has over 102,000 stars on Github and Google continues to actively support Flutter’s development, not as a matter of potential, but rather as a very viable option.
Conclusion
It is known that both Flutter and Kotlin are great solutions for developing both native and cross-platform mobile applications, and each of them is set to reduce the time and cost of application development, as well as enhancing the overall app performance. Every platform is exceptional in its own way, and the process of selecting among them should solely depend on the project requirements.
In case you are not looking for an advanced user interface and need to launch your app rather quick- go with Flutter. The reason is that it has end-to-end development embedded, meaning that everything will be done for you. However, if you want to implement a specific and unique user interface – Kotlin should be your first choice.
