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I have been a freelance Android Dev for past 4 or 5 years. I have recently built out a flutter app for a client. And honestly I am now looking for more Flutter

I have been a freelance Android Dev for past 4 or 5 years. I have recently built out a flutter app for a client. And honestly I am now looking for more Flutter work. UI development in Android is such a pain and I feel like I spend most of my time trying to get the UI just right. With Flutter I am building UI so much faster and getting to focus on the actual logic of the code. Dart was fine, I learned it as I went. I enjoy it more than Javascript but like Kotlin much more. The app I built with Flutter was pretty straightforward, so I haven't stretched the platforms capabilities, but hoping I get the chance to.

weberc2 8y ago
I haven't touched Android development since 2012. I remember the experience being a terrible hodge-podge of XML and Java which effectively required an absolutely attrocious IDE and an impossibly slow emulator. I assume things have changed since then, but I wonder by how much and if Flutter's workflow skirts any of these issues altogether.
- rhodysurf 8y ago
  Those are still the not fun parts to work with in Android, although its better now kotlin extensions so you no longer have to refer to the XML directly to manipulate views. Flutter doesn't use any of that, you just code and thats pretty much it. No XML or anything, and you can use VSCode which is a lot lighter than android studio.
- kllrnohj 8y ago
  > I assume things have changed since then Yes, tremendously so. It's still XML for basic UI, but Kotlin is the primary language of choice these days, Android Studio is a solidly world-class IDE, and the emulator is very fast. > but I wonder by how much and if Flutter's workflow skirts any of these issues altogether. Flutter uses the regular Android emulator, and although you have more editor choice the recommended was to just use a plugin for Android Studio.
  - freedomben 8y ago
    Is there any alternative to XML? How often do you find yourself hacking XML directly?
    - kllrnohj 8y ago
      Your layouts & styles are typically all in XML. But honestly I don't find it bad - it's not "proper" XML, so there's not a ton of cruft. It's really more like XHTML. It works fine.
rhodysurf 8y ago
Dart is "Fine" is the perfect description. It is pretty basic, but pleasant enough to use that it doesn't get in the way. Kotlin, swift, rust, etc are more fun languages for me but Flutter is productive enough with Dart I am not about to ditch if becasue the language is decent at best.
H1Supreme 8y ago
> UI development in Android is such a pain Have you implemented any layouts using the Constraint Layout? Normally, I'd agree with you, but I find the Constraint Layout pretty great for designing UI's. The "glued together" approach makes responsiveness a breeze, imo.
megaremote 8y ago
Can I ask was the UI quite simple?
Ylodi 8y ago
Are you familiar with Kotlin and Anko?

weberc2 8y ago

I haven't touched Android development since 2012. I remember the experience being a terrible hodge-podge of XML and Java which effectively required an absolutely attrocious IDE and an impossibly slow emulator. I assume things have changed since then, but I wonder by how much and if Flutter's workflow skirts any of these issues altogether.

rhodysurf 8y ago
Those are still the not fun parts to work with in Android, although its better now kotlin extensions so you no longer have to refer to the XML directly to manipulate views. Flutter doesn't use any of that, you just code and thats pretty much it. No XML or anything, and you can use VSCode which is a lot lighter than android studio.
kllrnohj 8y ago
> I assume things have changed since then Yes, tremendously so. It's still XML for basic UI, but Kotlin is the primary language of choice these days, Android Studio is a solidly world-class IDE, and the emulator is very fast. > but I wonder by how much and if Flutter's workflow skirts any of these issues altogether. Flutter uses the regular Android emulator, and although you have more editor choice the recommended was to just use a plugin for Android Studio.
- freedomben 8y ago
  Is there any alternative to XML? How often do you find yourself hacking XML directly?
  - kllrnohj 8y ago
    Your layouts & styles are typically all in XML. But honestly I don't find it bad - it's not "proper" XML, so there's not a ton of cruft. It's really more like XHTML. It works fine.

rhodysurf 8y ago

Dart is "Fine" is the perfect description. It is pretty basic, but pleasant enough to use that it doesn't get in the way. Kotlin, swift, rust, etc are more fun languages for me but Flutter is productive enough with Dart I am not about to ditch if becasue the language is decent at best.

H1Supreme 8y ago

> UI development in Android is such a pain Have you implemented any layouts using the Constraint Layout? Normally, I'd agree with you, but I find the Constraint Layout pretty great for designing UI's. The "glued together" approach makes responsiveness a breeze, imo.

megaremote 8y ago

Can I ask was the UI quite simple?

Ylodi 8y ago

Are you familiar with Kotlin and Anko?