v4.0 of the “XD to Flutter” plugin is available now, with a focus on simplifying and improving the Dart code it generates.
Building on v3’s focus on improving the developer experience, v4 includes a fairly significant refactor of how layout code is generated by the plugin to enable smarter, cleaner results.
Continue reading →There are so many great libraries on pub.dev these days it can be hard to sift through them all. The flutter team maintains their own list of favorites, and we thought it might be worthwhile to put together a list of our own favorite libs!
Continue reading →One of the great things about Github Actions is how easily it lets you setup continuous integration testing for your flutter applications. In this post we’ll go through the basic implementation of a CI workflow in flutter.
Continue reading →I’m very excited to announce the release of v3.0 of the “XD to Flutter” plugin, with a number of powerful new developer features.
Prior to v1.0, the primary goal was just to output as much of the content in Adobe XD to Flutter as possible: Vector graphics, text, images, fills, blurs, blend modes, etc. Version 1 tackled responsive layout, and v2.0 built on that with support for stacks, scroll groups, and padding. Version 2 also included the ability to export null-safe code, a critical developer feature for working with Flutter 2.
In v3.0 we’ve doubled down on improving the workflow for developers, including providing new ways to clean up the exported code and integrate dynamic content.
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Recently I saw this video explaining all 80+ Blender material nodes on my YouTube homepage. Naturally, I watched the video and one of the nodes, in particular, caught my attention: the Shader to RGB Node.
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As we begin pushing Flutter to more platforms such as Desktop and Web, it is becoming increasingly important to quickly and easily measure performance of your application. While the built-in performance monitor gets the job done, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of readability and flexibility.
As the old school Flash devs we are, we remember the days when virtually every Flash application around would use the hi-res-stats package by mrdoob (yes, that mrdoob). It was extremely helpful to catch performance issues, and make sure your application was smooth (which in those days, was a solid 24fps!).
Currently nothing like that exists in the Flutter community. To help fill this gap, we’ve created StatsFl! Available now on pub.dev: https://pub.dev/packages/statsfl
Continue reading →It’s my opinion that you should always write tests for your source code. Tests force you to code better. Tests allow you to write dependable code, create better architecture, and help you live longer*. They also help you spot fussy APIs, opportunities for reuse, and redundancies.
That said. You don’t always have the time (or budget) to test everything to death! Not everyone sees the value in all those little green checkmarks. Life isn’t pedantic and heavy-handed. Life is a pack wild horses and sometimes you need to be the cowboy.
So, when do you push back? When do you say NO! We must write tests!
There is no reason to skip out on writing tests if you have the time to write them. Why would you opt out of better code? Taking the extra time to make your code testable will turn average code into dependable code. Code that you know actually works is almost always better than new code.
You cannot make a data structure without writing tests for it. Why would anyone trust a data structure that cannot prove it works?
Data structures must be tested. I don’t even know how you’d code a data structure without setting up a test harness first. You don’t know how your code will be used, so knowing that every little piece works as expected is necessary.
With tests, you’ll see the logic in breaking code into small pieces. Tests will make it easier to spot problems in your architecture.
Writing data structures against a test suite is the only way to do it right.
Tests are the backbone of any open source project. They make sure that community contributions do not break the codebase. This allows fixes, changes, and optimizations to be made with certainty.
Your test suite becomes the hurdle that any contributor must clear. It’s not too much to ask for contributions that prove they work.
Starting with a test suite is a great way to design an API.
This allows you to work backward from your code interface instead of coding to it. This will let you design an API from the user’s perspective first.
Point blank. If other code needs to use this code, you must write a test for it.
The testable code will become part of an ever-expanding toolbox. Dependable toy soldiers who can be summoned to fight for you. Go! Test the world!
Here are a few resources to help you start writing tests for your code.
Mocha
Node.JS Assert
Writing good tests
*There is no scientific data that shows writing tests will help you live longer.
WebGL can be a complicated and mysterious animal. While many people associate GL with 3D graphics, it is much more versatile than that. In this post we talk about getting set up to build your own shaders.
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