The IEEE Computer Society Brac University Student Branch Chapter organized a three-day online seminar titled “Introduction to App development with Flutter” from March 27th to March 29th, 2022. The session covered Flutter basics, app design, app styling, animations, and building an app from the ground up. Despite the fact that this was an online event, the turnout was impressive. Every day, an average of 30 people attended the workshop.

Application development is one of the most progressive sectors in the world of technology. A framework is essential to construct an application. Different operating systems require different toolkits to develop apps for them. For building a wide range of applications, Android requires toolkits such as AVD, AVD manager, android studio, Eclipse, Fabric, Flowup, and so on, whereas IOS requires toolkits such as XCode, AppCode, Coderunner, Appypie, Buildfire, and so on. As a result, using two distinct development tools to design the same application is inconvenient. Also, it is common to see an app that is only available for Android users because developing apps for Android users is very simple, whereas developing the same app for IOS users is more complex. Apps such as AirDroid, Muzei, ADV screen recorder, solid explorer, and others are exclusively available on Android. To address these issues, Google released flutter in May 2017 as an open-source platform for developing apps for both Android and iOS users. Flutter is a popular software development platform for both Android and iOS. It isn’t a programming language in the traditional sense. It is a Google frontend development platform that allows for cross-platform app development while maintaining a uniform user experience. The same program may be written for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and other platforms using the same code. Flutter is mostly used to create mobile apps, but it has the potential to expand beyond that. It sped up the application development process because one code could be used to create apps for numerous operating systems. On this platform, customizing widgets is a lot easier. However, there are several limitations to this platform, such as a limited range of tools and libraries, poor IOS feature compatibility, and the lack of a password manager. Despite its flaws, it is an excellent tool. Flutter apps include  Goggle ad, klister me, Reflectly, Xianyu, Postmuse, Hamilton, lunching, paring, and many more noteworthy apps.

Md Al Imran Sefat, ex-Secretary of the IEEE Brac University Student Branch, was the speaker.  He has completed his BS.C in Computer Science and Engineering from Brac University. Currently, he is working as a software QA engineer at Enosis solution. He is a flutter developer and trainer. Moreover, he is a full-stack developer and firebase expert. He is also the founder of Coding with Imran.

On the first day of the session, the speaker delivered a quick overview of Flutter. He also explained how to use it. Following that, he discussed Dart, a programming language used in Flutter. He then went on to talk about the various parts of this UI framework. Then he went over themes, simulators, fantastic extensions, hot reload, widgets, and other folder types. He also explained how hot reload helps with problem fixes. Also covered how to make a homepage, style it, create buttons and use a counter program. Finally, he demonstrated the breakdown of the project structure. On the second day, the lecturer concentrated on the designing aspect and demonstrated how to use dribbling to achieve the desired design. He also discussed padding, classes, storing, and counting data. There were complex UI and UX designs on display. He talked about APK connection formation on the last day. After that, he demonstrated how to create an API key and use it, as well as how to create a data model. He also demonstrated the process of adding animations, graphics, and icons. During these three days, the speaker demonstrated how to build a whole application from the ground up.

The seminar took place on the google meet platform and the presenter was Azwaad Labiba Mohiuddin, Chair of the Brac University IEEE Computer Society Student Branch Chapter. All Brac University students were entitled to attend this seminar. On all three days, the session began at 7:10 p.m. and lasted 1.5 to 2 hours. Throughout the three-day lectures, the speaker fielded questions from the audience and clarified their problems and misinterpretations. Finally, the spirited discussion came to a conclusion with niceties exchanged.