The main question which comes to the minds of the companies designing their new application is what type of application the company wants to create. The applications based on native codes are growing faster and they have the advantage of operating system features. No doubt that cross-platform applications are growing very popular because they have the ability to be built more quickly and more easily, than Native ones.
Choosing between a flutter application or Nativ iOS and an Android application will be determined by what programming language and technology you need- Kotlin, Swift, or Flutter. The choice between flutter and native app development ultimately depends on what programming language and technology is required for your project. Flutter VS Native app development depends on the specific needs and requirements of your project.
Which among the following three would be the best for your project? And the answer to this question depends on what goals and expectations you are having with your new application. This article discusses all three technologies and gives a comparison between all three of them so that it becomes easier for you to select any one of them.
Quick Introduction To Kotlin, Swift, Or Flutter and Native App Development
Before we start discussing all three programming language and what are the qualities which makes them different from one another, let’s first discuss where the mobile industry, and where all these three languages stand in terms of popularity among users.
According to the statistics, in the year 2021, mobile users spend 92.5% of their total mobile phone time using mobile applications, while 7.5% of their time is spent using web browsers. No doubt, there are many companies that have their own mobile application, and if they don’t have one they are planning to create one. The approach of flutter and native app development provides the developers with direct access to native features and libraries.
Most of the applications are built for the Andriod system. In the second quarter of 2022, Android users had the option of choosing between the 3.5 million applications. On the other hand, the Apple store had roughly 2.2 million apps available for iOS.
Let’s take our eyes through what programming languages and frameworks are currently the most popular in mobile development.
Kotlin
Kotlin- a statistically typed, general-proposed programming language developed which was developed by JetBrains. Kotlin was first introduced by JetBrains in the year 2011, and it is a new language.
Kotlin is an object-oriented language and is a much better language than Java. The sponsor of Kotlin is Google, which is announced as one of the official languages for android development in the year 2017.
Swift
Swift is a language by Apple, which was developed in the year 2014, it has replaced objective C because it is now mo more reliable and easier to read.
A survey by Jet Brains discovered that 76% of the developers are proficient in Swift, and 13% are proficient in Swift and Objective-C because Swift is more reliable and easier to read. Swift is approximately 2.6x faster than Objective C and 8.4x faster than Python.
Flutter
According to a survey, nearly about 42% of software developers use flutter, compared to 38% of React Native and 11% of Xamarin. 68% of developers picked Flutter as their favorite framework.
Flutter framework is also ranked highly as one of the least disliked languages, and there are only 31% of the developers say that they don’t like Flutter.
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Comparison Between Flutter And Native App Development
Flutter and React Native have many similarities, but there is one aspect that clearly differentiates Flutter and Reacts Native. Flutter and Native app development both are top cross-platform mobile application frameworks. These both have a large market share of all the cross-platform technologies in the market.
There are many similarities between flutter and native react, but there is one aspect that clearly differentiates this programming language. Therefore, Flutter is more prone to be used among cross-platform software. No doubt both the app developers are good on their ends, but let’s find that how popular is flutter than react native.
Short Overview Of Swift, Kotlin, And Dart
Swift, Kotlin, and Dart are reactively new languages, but these three are already becoming the developer’s favorite languages for either native or cross-platform app development. Let’s take a look at the technical details of all three technologies.
Swift
Swift was released on 9th September 2014, which is an open-source programming language designed as ios’s native language. By the use of this language, you can write single codes that can work on mobiles, tablets, desktops, and even on smart TVs. With the help of Swift UI, you can take care of the application’s design across all IOS devices. In today’s time, Swift has slowly gained popularity and is now the main language for creating iOS applications, replacing objective C.
The main reason why Swift is popular among native developers is that it is a simple, clean language, and it is easy to read and write. Swift has a strong typing system and error handling, which prevents code crashes, and errors in production, which also makes it safer than C-based languages.
Though Swift’s community is relatively small compared to the other languages, the only chance for it to grow is if the demand for Swift developers increases.
Pros Of Using Swift:
- Swift is a free and open-source language.
2. There are multiple safeguards in Swift that prevent errors and make the code more readable.
3. It is very easy to use both languages in your project.
Cons Of Using Swift:
- This language is still developing, so compared to other languages like Objective C, the community is still pretty small.
- Swift only supports iOS 7+, the systems older than 7+ are not supported.
- It might a bit tricky to find the right IDE and a third-party tool.
Kotlin
Kotlin was released on 15 February 2016. This programming language was initially developed for the Java Virtual Machine. Kotlin allows developers to write more concisely, and clearly and is less prone to crash codes than Java. Kotlin language is mainly used for android development. Kotlin is 100% interoperability with Java. This means that Kotlin has the ability to run where Java runs.
Google recently released Kotlin multiplatform mobile for creating cross-platform applications. You can easily migrate your Java application to Kotlin. There is no need to write the codes for the second time in Kotlin. With the help of SDK, you can reuse the parts of the code between iOS and android applications.
Pros Of Using Kotlin:
- Most of the IDEs in today’s market are supported by Kotlin.
2. In comparison to Java, Kotlin allows native android applications to be built and deployed faster as there is a requirement for fewer lines of code are required.
3. It is very easy to detect potential errors so that the dubbing can be done quickly.
Cons Of Using Kotlin:
- Only a limited number of guides and documentation are available.
- Both Java and Kotlin have differences between them, so if you want to switch between them, it requires some time for the same.
- In comparison to Java, compiling the codes takes a longer period of time than Kotlin.
Dart And Flutter
Flutter is not a programming language, it’s a mobile application framework which is developed by Google. With the help of the Flutter framework, the developers can create native-like webs, desktops, and cross-platform applications. Dart is a language that is developed by Flutter. Flutter speeds up app development and reduces the cost and complexity of app production across various platforms. The developers know how popular is flutter among the programmers.
The developers inside and outside of google, use flutter to build beautiful compiled native applications because it does not rely on web browser technology. To draw the widgets, Flutter uses its own high-performance rendering engine. Most of the systems in flutter are implemented in Dart. By this, there is tremendous control of the developers over their systems
Pros of using Dart and Flutter:
- Multiple platforms are supported by Dart Language.
2. There is an extensive library of built-in functions and libraries.
3. Multiple platforms are supported which includes both desktop and mobile devices.
Cons Of Using Dart and Flutter:
- In comparison to other popular languages, there is a limited number of features available.
- The file sizes are much bigger than the other platforms.
- It is relatively still an immature technology. This technology hasn’t been around for a much larger time.
Conclusion
Both Flutter and Nativ app development have unique features in them, and both are doing a great job on their part. Where there are some positive points there are some negative for the same too. There are many leading companies that have been using both applications to build their mainstream applications.
Deciding on the basis of their specialties is very tough, so one needs to decide which one to choose, on the basis of the requirements they need to meet. There are many factors that you need to consider while you are on the path of opting for the specific language for your next specific product. We got to know how popular is flutter and what significant role it plays for app developers.
But you need to keep this in mind, that these are programming languages, and the characteristics of these languages will keep on changing. So if you are deciding to choose any one of the above for your project, have a thorough study for the same.
