This week in Flutter #96: Google I/O on the 10th of May.

8 April 2023

Google I/O has been announced and Flutter is going to be in it, as usual. Make sure you do not miss it on May 10.

This week we have a short issue of the newsletter but with a very interesting topic: Should you split the code in your repository into local packages? Watch a video and read my opinion down below.

- Michele Volpato

🧑‍💻 Development in Flutter

The Price of Using Local Packages in Flutter

by Robert Brunhage

Robert gives three main problems with local packages: 1. the complexity; 2. slow analyzer; and 3. CI. This is my opinion on the matter:

True, local packages add complexity, so if the project is small and self-contained, do not do it, it is not worth it.
Yes, the analyzer becomes slow when you checkout a different branch. But it catches up quickly. You need to live with the compromise that it takes some time for it to get to the usual speed.
About CI, I disagree. You set it up once (sort of). In a fairly large project with many local packages I am working on, it takes less than 8 minutes on an M1 machine to run all checks and tests and build the app, with a clever parallelization of workflows. We do not run always all the tests and checks, we run only the necessary ones because we split the code into packages 😉.

I think that the question you should ask yourself is “Should I be able to import the code in this folder without importing the rest of the project? If yes, then it is a package.” For instance, all the code that does not depend on Flutter should be in a package.

What do you think?

Create a High-Quality Live Streaming App with Flutter

by David Serrano

Learn how to incorporate live streaming in your Flutter app, by using a third-party service.

Wonderous nominated for Webby Award

Last year, at Flutter 3.3 announcement, the Flutter team showcased Wonderous by gskinner, “an app built to showcase Flutter’s capacity to deliver high-end, beautiful experiences without caveats.”

Now that app is nominated for The Webby Awards.

🎥 Flutter videos

Observable Flutter: Speed coding Pong

with Craig Labenz

“Watch as Craig writes a Pong client from scratch, using Flutter and Flame, as fast as he can!”

That’s it for this week.

If you want to comment on any of this week’s entries, you can do it in the comment section below.

Have a bug-free week,