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If you’re looking to build cross-platform mobile apps, then you’ve probably heard of Flutter. It’s a popular framework for Dart that is used to build high-performance apps that run on both iOS and Android. Being a specialist flutter development agency, we decided to write this blog to give you an insightful look at why flutter is rapidly becoming the platform of choice for developing mobile applications.
You might have also heard of Native Script, an open-source framework for JavaScript that is also used to create apps for iOS and Android.
Flutter is a popular solution for building cross-platform mobile applications. It is an advanced UI framework that competes with the likes of React Native, Native Script and Xamarin. However, in this post, we will be taking a close look at what Flutter and Native Script have to offer.
Flutter and Native Script are both great solutions for cross-platform development. They both have their pros and cons, and which one you choose will depend on your preferences along with the goals for your app.
Let’s explore specific comparisons between the two frameworks:
Programming Languages:
When it comes to choosing between Flutter vs Native Script, language is one of the first things you’ll want to consider. Both platforms have advantages and disadvantages when it comes to language, so let’s take a closer look at what they’re working with.
Dart is a programming language that was created by Google. It’s used by Flutter to build apps for Android and iOS, but it can also be used to make web applications.
Dart is a statically typed language, which means that every variable has a type associated with it. This can be beneficial as it reduces bugs by ensuring that all variables are used correctly in an app build.
If you’re using Dart for your mobile app project, then don’t worry too much about debugging because Dart has great tools that make debugging easier than other languages. Dart DevTools is a great set of debugging tools that can be used for Dart and Flutter.
Flutter runs in the Dart virtual machine, which has a just-in-time execution engine. If you were wondering how Flutter can work so quickly, this is the reason. It allows for the hot reload feature, reducing development times significantly.
Since it’s simple to build apps in Dart, you’ll have less of a learning curve than other languages that require additional tools.
Architecture:
Both Flutter and Native Script have different architecture types. Flutter uses layered architecture, which is quite commonly used. Modules or components with similar functions are layered into horizontal layers, meaning that each layer will have a similar purpose.
On the other hand, Native Script uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architecture. Another framework that uses this architecture is Django, a web framework used for Python.
Tooling:
Flutter offers its own IDE, but it doesn’t have as much support as other IDEs like Android Studio or Visual Studio Code. It also doesn’t have full debugging capabilities as of yet, and doesn’t have testing functionality.
It’s important to choose the right IDE depending on what programming language you’re going to use for your project. We’ve previously discussed the best IDEs for Python. Having the appropriate IDE for the language you’re working in can reduce development time and make the process more efficient.
Native Script can be extended with JavaScript code, so you can use any JavaScript framework you want for building your mobile app. If you already know how to use JavaScript, then using Native React would be a sensible option as it is a JavaScript framework.
Flutter supports only the Dart language, which means that there is no way to use other languages within its framework. However, implementing third-party plugins is a way to get around this issue.
UI Components:
The UI components you choose to use will depend on the functionality and design of the app. Both Flutter and Native Script offer a wide variety of widgets to choose from.
Flutter has more out-of-the-box UI components than Native Script, but if one isn’t available for what you want to build, then Flutter is better because you can create custom ones yourself according to your needs.
Native Script does allow some customization with its widgets as well, since you can change colours and sizes. Although, it doesn’t go as far as Flutter does with this ability.
Community Support:
An important aspect of a good framework is the community support you can get for it.
Let’s take a closer look at some key statistics and facts:
- Flutter currently has a larger community than Native Script, with over 144K GitHub repository stars and 140K Stack Overflow questions compared to Native Script’s 21K stars and 7K questions as of current times.
- However, Native Script is younger than Flutter (released in 2014 versus 2017). This means that Native Script has been around for longer, but is yet to reach the popularity of Flutter.
- Flutter has a much lower number of third-party packages and libraries than Native Script. Although Flutter is quite popular, it is still relatively new. This means that the resource base is quite limited for the framework currently.
Conclusion
Flutter and Native Script are both great options for cross-platform development and both have advantages over each other when it comes to language or community support, as well as the number of available third-party packages and libraries available.
If you’re looking for a way to build apps quickly and easily, then Flutter might be the right choice for you. On the other hand, if you want something more flexible, Native Script could be better suited for your project needs. Native Script is more complicated than Flutter, but it can provide more flexibility in comparison to Flutter.
Native Script and Flutter are both very powerful frameworks for building cross-platform mobile applications. They both have a large community, excellent documentation, and strong support from their respective companies. Flutter is currently more popular than Native Script, even though it was released much later.
It’s important to take your project goals into mind for your app to make your decision, but Flutter may be a more reliable choice due to the ease of use and effectiveness of the framework. Flutter can make the app development process quite efficient, reducing development times massively.
At Raw Jam we decided to focus of flutter and become a specialist flutter development agency, and of recent months have seen a real uptake in clients asking for specialist flutter development services from ourselves.
Stuck on your mobile app project? Contact the Raw Jam team for help!
Researched and Written by Saleem Maroof