Being the Best Flutter App Development Company, we bring you the official updates of the latest Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8 by Google in this blog post.

1. EVERYTHING YOU
NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT FLUTTER
1.17 AND DART 2.8
(FIRST STABLE
UPDATE OF
FLUTTER AND
DART IN 2020)
www.bacancytechnology.com

2. The year 2020 has been an unpredictable
one for sure. Who knew that the Covid-19
pandemic would stick to our lives for such
a long time? Even Google canceled
the Google I/O event, which was supposed
to be the biggest newsbreak. However, We
Can Help You Run your Business-as-Usual
and Ensure Productive IT Operations as
Earlier.
Nevertheless, the year’s most stable and
favorable release from Google is the
recently released Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8
versions on 6th May 2020.

3. All About
Flutter 1.17
Update

4. So, this is the primary essential change
that Google has brought up with the latest
Flutter 1.17 version. The google_fonts
package provides you 977 fonts that you
may readily use.
It would help if you imported it in your
pubspec dependencies, like this:import
‘package:google_fonts/google_fonts.dart’;
To use Google fonts, you can write the
below code:
1. Google fonts

5. To use them with various styles,
And to incorporate fonts in your project
theme,

6. Having your apps perform better is always
a bait, and sure, it must be! After all, it’s
getting your app advantage from your
users and the market.
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
The above graphical representation shows
how memory is suitably utilized in the new
version and improves your app
performance.
2. Better performance
and Size Enhancements

7. The latest Flutter 1.17 update has got th;e
following performance enhancements
➥ Quick and clear animations
➥ Compact apps
➥ Low memory consumption
➥ Better navigation (20-40% improved)
➥ Reduced CPU/GPU (40%)
➥ Better scrolling consuming low memory
units

8. Most of the improved performance of Flutter
1.17 comes from the support of Metal API. Let me
share a shred of evidence to express the
difference between OpenGL and Metal on iOS.
[Source: Medium Post]
The above graph shows your iOS app frame,
rendering time using OpenGL API Vs. Metal
API. Shorter bars are meaning better speed and
performance. And from the chart, Metal is way
far better than OpenGL that Flutter used earlier.
3. Metal Support for iOS

9. To understand better, see below image depicting
how an iOS game would take up the memory
using OpenGL and Metal. Results are Clear.
[Source: Iphonelife blog]
The Metal API provides direct access to the GPU,
and it reduces the app frame rendering time.

10. The Flutter update comes with some new and
some updated material design widgets-
NavigationRail(), DatePicker(), and New Text
Input Mode.
Here is a quick view of the new navigation
widget, which is a boon for apps that want to
switch from mobile to desktop.
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
4. New widgets / Updated Widgets

11. You may try it on the DartPad using
the web_dashboard GitHub package to see this
widget in real-time.
Apart from the navigation widget, there’s a new
date picker widget and the new text input
widget. Check them out here below:
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]

12. [Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
These newer widgets will surely improve the
user experience of your Flutter apps on both
Android and iOS platforms.

13. In the new Flutter update, the team has
implemented Material Design 2018
specifications, while maintaining the integrity
of the existing Flutter apps.
According to the Material TextStyles of 2018, we
have mentioned some of the names and
configurations in the table below:
[Source: 2018 Material Design Specifications]
5. Material Text Scale

14. However, if you are using older versions of
Flutter, your application won’t break down. But
just the platforms will suggest you upgrade to
the newer naming conventions. For eg., Body 1 &
Body 2 in the above image will be known as
bodyText1 & bodyText2 respectively in the
TextTheme API, and H1-H6 are called headline-
1 to headline-6.

15. Well, the rest remains unchanged, and you can
surely continue with your older versions yet.
Now let us look at what Google has upgraded
with Dart.
6. You may now actively track your
Network traffic using,
7. The Google Team has overcome the
issue of Hot reload and fixed it right.
8. From this version onwards, using
Android X will be mandatory and default
choice.
9. The Samsung keyboard issue is now
solved, which now makes accessibility
and internationalization inevitable.
10.Google has updated the scrolling and
text input widget.

16. The New Dart 2.8

17. Along with Flutter’s new release, Google also
announced the official Dart 2.8 update.

18. Your existing apps will execute with the same
code, but the new release has edge cases and
changed the library.
As there are already above 10k packages in the
pub, Dart 2.8 has improved the visibility and
also enhanced visual recommendations.
The Dart developers get the most benefit from
this version because they will require much less
time to get all the packages from the pubget.
The Google team has come forward to work over
the null reference issue for safety. However,
they are yet to test it.
It has below-prescribed features:

19. Another useful function for the developers is
the puboutdated command, through which they
can figure out the older extinct version and get
the new versions available in the market.
Hence, they have resolved the “out-of-date”
dependency issue.
With the Dart 2.8 update, you can inspect
traffic, check your network requests manually,
or use the new network tab introduced by
Google.
Get in Touch If Want to Build your New App With
Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8

20. Conclusion
Flutter has buried all the woes of Flutter
developers with this new release and made
everyone merrier. We are the most
experienced Flutter App Development Company,
and we can assure you that as you accept these new
updated versions of Flutter and Dart, your
enterprise will have to face no downstream. Hire
our proficient Flutter developers in the manner
you wish you, hourly, weekly, monthly, or project-
based, and be ready to receive high-quality
development practices.
Our experienced developers follow the Agile
Software development methodology and use
the top Flutter tools and libraries for excellent
project implementation.

21. Thank You