Flutter has been forked! There’s an exciting new development in the world of Flutter — a second version called Flock. This new version is set to evolve independently from the original Flutter. If you’re curious about what this means and why it’s happening, you’re in the right place.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a massively popular framework for building cross-platform applications. It’s a single code base solution primarily used for iOS and Android apps, though it extends its capabilities to other platforms like Windows, macOS, and Linux. The central appeal of Flutter, similar to React Native, is crafting apps for multiple platforms without starting from scratch for each one.
Fun Fact: My Flutter course alone has gathered over 300,000 students looking to dive into the world of Flutter, and that’s just a slice of the Flutter enthusiast pie!
Why Flock?
The Birth of a Fork
A fork signifies the creation of a copy of a project — in this case, a snapshot of Flutter from GitHub. The Flock team is building upon this foundation under a new banner: Flock.
“The unequal quality of support for these different platforms is one of the main reasons why this fork was created.”
This move springs from a belief that the original Flutter team might be understaffed, having not grown proportionately with Flutter’s increasing user base. The Flock team suggests that Google might now have different interests, particularly with AI development, affecting Flutter’s priority.
Challenges With Flutter
The team behind Flock highlights several challenges:
- Stagnation in Development: With a growing number of issues and pull requests, Flutter’s development seems stagnant in certain areas.
- Contributions Welcome? They claim that Flutter isn’t as welcoming to external contributions as it could be, which hinders its development and potential growth.
In my experience, Flutter is stellar for mobile app development, specifically for Android and iOS. However, spreading its capabilities too thin across all platforms might dilute its effectiveness.
The Vision for Flock
The ultimate goal for Flock is to remain open source and develop alongside the community. The creators are inviting contributions, aiming to make Flock a better version of Flutter.
Who Can Contribute? The team is keen on gathering a diverse range of contributors — from alpha testers to reviewers and leads. The vision is to sculpt a Flutter that flourishes with community input.
Is Flock the Solution?
There’s a mix of skepticism and hope surrounding Flock. It needs considerable traction to succeed and requires high-quality contributions aligned with a cohesive vision. Without this, there’s a risk of developing a codebase that’s messy and inconsistent across platforms.
Potential Benefits:
- Community-Driven Development: It could lead to a more responsive and versatile version of Flutter, tailored to meet diverse needs.
- Enhanced Cross-Platform Support: With the community’s involvement, there might be improved cross-platform capabilities.
Risks Involved:
- Fragmentation: Having two versions — Flutter and Flock — could dilute resources and contributions needed for advancing either framework.
- Quality Control: Integrating numerous contributions without a clear direction might lead to technical debt and inconsistent feature support.
Flutter Today and Its Future
Despite the stir Flock has caused, Flutter is still an incredible framework for mobile app development. Its simplicity in creating stunning mobile apps is unmatched, and depending on your projects, you might not face the issues Flock aims to address.
Flutter vs. Flock: If you’re building applications across all platforms, Flock might be worth exploring. But, remember, this is a new project, and its effectiveness remains to be seen.
Final Thoughts
The introduction of Flock is an unexpected yet intriguing development in the tech landscape. This fork raises questions about the future trajectory of both Flock and Flutter and how they might shape the development experience going forward.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! What do you make of this new fork? Is it a game-changer, or will it fizzle out? Let’s discuss!