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Guoming Fang
Guoming Fang

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Flutter in 2024: 5 Surprising Use Cases Beyond Mobile Apps

  1. Hook: Beyond the Obvious
    "Flutter isn’t just for mobile apps anymore. From embedded systems to creative tools, developers are pushing Dart into uncharted territories. Here’s how."

  2. Unexpected Flutter Use Cases
    Desktop Apps That Don’t Compromise

How Superlist (by ex-Uber team) built a macOS/Windows productivity tool with Flutter.

Why Flutter’s hardware-accelerated rendering beats Electron for performance.

Embedded & IoT Dashboards

Case study: A smart farm using Flutter to control sensors and drones via Raspberry Pi.

Tools: Flutter-Pi and custom platform channels.

Gaming Prototypes & Casual Games

Flame engine showcase: A 2D game hitting 60 FPS on mobile and web.

Why indie devs use Flutter for MVP game testing before switching to Unity/Unreal.

Interactive Digital Art

Live demo: Generative art app using Flutter + Custom Paint at 120Hz refresh rates.

How artists leverage Hot Reload for real-time creativity.

Enterprise Kiosks & Touchscreens

McDonald’s self-order terminals (piloted in Asia) – why Flutter won over Java.

Single codebase for maintenance across thousands of devices.

  1. Code Snippets: Flutter’s Flexibility

// Example: Flutter talking to Python via FFI (Foreign Function Interface)

final int result = nativeLibrary.add(10, 20);

print('IoT Device Response: $result');

  1. When Not to Use Flutter
  2. Heavy 3D games (Unreal/Unity still rule).
  3. OS-level hardware access (stick to native Kotlin/Swift).
  4. Legacy systems requiring COBOL/Java EE integrations.

  5. Conclusion: Flutter’s Future
    "Flutter’s real power lies in its adaptability. As Google invests in impeller rendering, WASM support, and Dart 3.0, expect even wilder use cases by 2025."

Call-to-Action:
"Tried Flutter for something unconventional? Share your story in the comments!"

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