DEV Community: GDSC SVPCET

Know Flutter

Shefali Pandhare — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 17:34:43 +0000

Flutter is an open-source framework by Google, released in May 2017, for building fanciable, constitutionally compiled multi-platform applications from a single codebase.
Meaning, you can use one programming language and one codebase to create two different apps for iOS and Android.
Flutter uses Dart as the programming language. Dart is also an open-source, Client-Side programming language that is easy to use, learn, and provides high performance.

Flutter is comprised of two very important parts:
A. An SDK i.e., Software Development Kit which is a collection of tools that are going to help you develop your applications. Tools for compiling your code into native machine code are included (code for iOS and Android).
B. A Framework, UI Library based on widgets which is a collection of reusable UI elements (buttons, text inputs, sliders, and so on) that you can personalize for your own needs.

For both developers and businesses, the Flutter framework offers fascinating possibilities. When iOS and Android apps are produced utilizing the same codebase and a user-friendly design, mobile app development is speedy and cost-effective.

Why Flutter?
I. Fast
Flutter programming compiles ARM or Intel machine code as well as JavaScript for lightning-fast performance on any device.

II.Productive
Build and iterate rapidly to be productive. Without losing state, update the code and view changes practically quickly.

III.Flexible
Control every pixel to create unique, adaptive designs that look and feel amazing on every device.

IV.Easy to learn
It is simple to pick up. Flutter enables developers to create native mobile apps without the requirement for OEM widgets or a large amount of code. This, together with Flutter's appealing user interface, simplifies the process of developing mobile apps.

V. Cost-effective
Developing iOS and Android apps using the same codebase is effectively the same as developing two apps for the price of one.

VI.Great documentation & community
Thanks to its extensive documentation and easy-to-follow use cases, Flutter provides a wealth of resources to address your questions. Flutter users can also exchange ideas through community hubs like Flutter Community and Flutter Awesome

Flutter App Development's Drawbacks
While Flutter app development has many advantages, it's also crucial to note the framework's drawbacks:

• Flutter is a brand-new app. Flutter has a lot of plugins and UI components, but frameworks like Xamarin and React Native have a lot more. While Flutter will not remain the newest framework on the block indefinitely, it is the current state of affairs.

• Dart isn't particularly popular. Even though it is a fantastic programming language, developers are far more inclined to explore languages like Java or Kotlin.

• Some components are available just on iOS or Android, not both. Because Flutter is a Google product, these components are more likely to support Android. Android developers are often more interested in Flutter than iOS developers.

Framework Architecture
Dart Platform
On Windows, macOS, and Linux, Flutter runs in the Dart virtual machine, which uses a just-in-time execution engine. When building and debugging apps, Flutter uses Just in Time compilation, which enables for "hot reload," which allows changes to source files to be injected into a live application. Flutter now includes stateful hot reloading, which means that changes to source code are reflected in the running app without the need for a restart or losing state in most cases.

Flutter Engine
For low-level rendering, Flutter's engine, which is primarily written in C++, employs Google's Skia graphics library. It also works with platform-specific SDKs, such as Android and iOS. The Flutter Engine is a portable runtime for hosting Flutter applications. It includes animation and graphics, file and network I/O, accessibility support, plugin architecture, and a Dart runtime and compiles toolchain, among other things. The Flutter framework, which includes a reactive framework and a set of platform, layout, and foundation widgets, is how most developers interact with Flutter.

Foundation Library
The Foundation library, written in Dart, contains essential classes and functions for building Flutter apps, such as APIs for communicating with the engine.

Widgets for certain designs
The Flutter framework has two sets of widgets that adhere to different design styles: Material Design widgets use Google's Material Design language, while Cupertino widgets use Apple's iOS Human Interface principles.

Don’t need to Flutter after you learn Flutter!

Flutter is a popular app development technology that has been used to create several successful mobile apps, including:
Google Ads
Xianyu by Alibaba
Cryptograph
KlasterMe

Top-tier firms are looking for mobile app developers who know Flutter, and based on experience and job function, a dev with Flutter knowledge can make anywhere from $80,704 to $126,087 per year. Mobile app developers who are fluent in Flutter are in high demand.

How to get started with Flutter?

One of the right ways to start with flutter is to do certification courses that will also help you engage yourself in jobs later on.

You might be curious about the development platforms to employ once you have a basic understanding of what flutter is. If you're an Android or iOS developer, you're undoubtedly already familiar with Android Studio and XCode. Flutter is dependent on the Flutter SDK, same as Android is dependent on the Android SDK. The following IDEs should be used:
Android Studio
vscode
XCode

Google Code labs
It is a website where you may learn how to code.
This entails following step-by-step instructions to solve coding problems. It's intriguing because it's extremely practical; you can follow along with the code labs and then adjust them to your liking later.

Attempt Code Challenges
The one challenge we are GDSC Community is coming up with. You can learn about flutter, complete challenges, and even get schwag.

Conclusion
Well, what do you think of flutter? Will you start learning flutter?
I hope that this introduction has sparked your interest and pushed you to learn more.

Happy Fluttering!

NFT: The Beginning

Kshitij Gajanan Gavhane — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:39:17 +0000

Hi there!!👋
Everyone is uttering about NFT, not because it sounds cool to say but because there is a lot of money involved🤑🤑🤑
Are you wondering what NFTs are, why they're so popular right now... and why they're so valuable.
If you ever collected anything Coins, Stickers, art or anything like that; think of it as a digital version of that, but so much more stick around and we'll explain why this is important for you as a collector, a creator, an investor and even an artist. An NFT is a digital asset a Non-Fungible Token. But to explain that let's break it down and compare it to something in the physical world, So a fungible asset- for example currency like a 2000 Rupees note💸 is always worth, whatever is printed on that note. No matter who owns it or what condition it's in, so a non-fungible token is a unique asset that lives on the Blockchain that represents a piece of digital art.
Or some other asset that can't be exchanged or interchanged in the real world, Alright crypto is just art that's digital but they're digital files and they're tokenized which means they have a tiny bit of code that's attached to them. That signifies that they're rare and that the artist that made them is is guaranteeing that that they've made them and that there's only one of its kind.
So many copies available in the world and it's basically the same as physical digital people are doing. Some people are starting to tokenize bits of code and programs. So,
How are they created?
Well anyone can create an NFT and the process goes like this
1)Create a unique digital asset this can be anything. It could be a piece of art, could be a photo, it could be a video anything that can exist digitally and uniquely.
2)So once you have your digital asset you'll need to mint it, which basically puts it on the blockchain that assigns a unique id to it.
3)You will then put that in your cryptocurrency wallet so you can actually track it and log it once on the Blockchain. The scarcity and uniqueness of your digital asset is secured.

A lot of people see it as an investment opportunity. And also it's just a great way for artists to generate new ideas that aren't linked to corporate advertising campaigns. Once your asset is minted you can choose to put it on a marketplace like opensea.io , WazirX and other available platforms which allow you to list your NFTs for sale. Once listed on these marketplaces they're now available for anyone to purchase. The really cool thing about having these on a blockchain is that their transaction records are available for anyone to view. This is especially advantageous to creators, as part of the minting process you as the creator can ensure that you get a royalty payment in infinity, So what does that mean?
Lets say you set a 10 royalty to this, now Every time it's sold you're going to get 10 of that sale value forever and because it's all part of the blockchain your ledger's automatically going to be crediting your crypto wallet, with that royalty payment it's automatic and it's forever and the other thing is, this all opens up other avenues that don't exist in the physical art world.
Question arises Why are these so valuable🤔?
Well! collectors like to collect things and they especially like to collect items that very few or even nobody else has and that's what NFTs allow you to do, compared to a physical collectible.
An NFT authenticity is absolute on the blockchain it can't be forged it can't be faked and the ownership records are there for all to see, but as with anything the value of the collectable is up to the demand in the marketplace.
Like when you buy a print from somebody like Andy Warhol
,
the print is valuable because it came from andy warhol's factory and there are other companies that can print a copy of that but it won't hold the same value and this is the same thing but with digital files while you may be able to make copies of the nyan cat animation there still can only be one original just like you could take a photo of the Mona lisa
.

There's still only one gallery that actually owns the original that validated original ownership is what's truly valuable. Here everything else is a copy or a fake and because of the blockchain ledger it can be proven NFTs have really put the power back into the hands of the original artists. Traditionally an artist would be Commissioned to create a piece of work, they would get paid for that work and then whoever commissioned it would then be able to resell that at any time as often as they want and the original artist never sees any of that now with nfts and the blockchain the original artist can see all the transactions that happen to that piece of art also get compensated automatically for that work via royalties…

so is this a good investment ⁉️
Again that really depends, you can support your favorite artists by buying an NFT from them having that original piece of art and that'll be the end of the story. you'll feel good the artist would feel good because they got paid but if you're doing this as an investment that's where it gets a little Bit more murky let's talk about that for a second. So After a number of high-profile NFT sales the market has become flooded by lesser known names but if you're a collector driven by rarity and uniqueness NFTs satisfy a lot of the criteria for value that you might have and there's no question that you own the real deal in this case there's no question NFTs is a fascinating subject.

So that’s it we've just scratched the surface here if there's anything you'd like to correct me please do comment :)

Native apps vs Cross-platform Apps

Kshitij Gajanan Gavhane — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 07:01:53 +0000

Today is all about apps…..about iPhones and androids so,
How to build apps for these cool devices?
Of course, if you want to be an ios developer you're going to need a mac or if you want to build android apps you can use a mac or pc or Linux. You have some opportunities there but let's dive in and talk all about apps and app development.
Do you know what question App developers get every single day? “Should I do cross-platform app development or native app development?”
Which ones to choose? Swift vs Kotlin vs Java vs React native vs Flutter and Dart vs Ionic vs Xamarin, so many technologies and so many questions. There are different answers depending on what you want to do with your life and your products can also depend on which technology you use so there's going to be some very great information in here. We'll talk about jobs, freelancing, the quality of the platform and so much more.
So here we go, first off let's talk about native apps
What is a native app?
A native app means that you're building with Swift for ios or Kotlin for android. It could also mean Java for android. IOS apps support objective c and they support swift also. Those would both be considered native apps. Though nobody is using objective c anymore🙃. Now with android, Kotlin is the new hot programming language that's replacing java for the android platform. Let's talk about ios… When would you want to build an app natively with swift?

Well there are a few reasons first off, if you want to get a full-time job as an ios developer- you're going to want to learn swift, that is your fastest path to a full-time job. Most companies that want to build an app for their business are going to go with native because it will deliver a great performance, it's going to be super fast and there are the most amount of developers available for them to hire. Native app development is the fastest app development you can do, there are no intermediary layers and this goes the same for android but native app development is going to give you the most performance of any app that you could ever create. Now to native android. The options here are Kotlin or Java. We used to build android apps all in Java but now we do it in Kotlin. Although android still supports java but it's now a second-class citizen. Google, who's the main backer behind android, also favours Kotlin. They want everyone on Kotlin as future of android is going there, so if you ever have the question ‘should I learn java or Kotlin for android?’ I suggest Kotlin. That's where all the jobs are going to be now. However when you've learn the core foundation of android and Kotlin, make sure to learn some java because you're going to encounter it on a full-time job and again when would you want to use native android well ,especially if you want to get a full-time job or if you're building a product or startup that you need extreme performance native android , that’s way to go. Again, medium or large companies often start with native apps.
Now let's talk about cross-platform apps for a little bit.
What is a cross-platform app?
The idea is that you write code once and you can deploy it to multiple platforms. Facebook made this popular with something called react-native. What is React you may ask? Well React is a web component framework that helps you build cool web apps with this super elegant component modularized framework and now they have brought it to mobile which means that with react native you can write code in javascript and react but you can pull out the native features of the device of the phone like the camera ,the GPS, all those things. It basically talks to it natively so you could build an app and deploy multiple places. Now let me tell you something, a lot of people make the mistake of just writing it once and deploying it everywhere when they are building a native app but that doesn’t work well with the react-native. When Facebook actually invented react native ,and it's still there in their docs, they say “react native was not designed to make one code base and deployed everywhere”, the reason why they designed react-native was so that they could use web technologies to iterate faster, their apps had become so big; the facebook ad had become so huge that it takes hours to compile single small change, so they wanted something where they can write the code in javascript and get real-time updates because javascript is an interpreted language, it changes instantly. So they could just write the code once and deploy it everywhere.
Now,
Why don't a lot of companies immediately just embrace cross-platform when you think it saves money?
Well, javascript's a slower language, it's a very very slow language. In a recent test where 10 million lines of code in c++ and 10 million lines of code in javascript were compiled javascript took 59 seconds to run while in c++ it only took one second, that's the difference we're talking about with a compiled language versus an interpreted language like javascript.
Now let's suppose you have apps that don't need intense hardware rendering and things like that, react native is a great choice. You may think Instagram is built on react native and they've got video stuff, well keep in mind it has a team full of developers whose whole life is solely dedicated to performance and making things great. As a single app developer though you are not going to squeeze out crazy performance in javascript for your native apps.
You can also learn flutter and dart which is the new big competitor to react native (flutter is the framework & darts the programming language).Flutter is backed by Google, it's way newer than react-native but it is so powerful which gives you an amazing developer experience you can already tell.
The approach used by flutter is just different, their approach isn't about apps and deployment is everywhere. So what is it about if not that?
“We want you to build an amazing experience for your users whatever your users need and we don't want you to worry about the various platforms we want to handle so that you focus on your experience”. Flutter and Dart are all about creating the experience of writing the code once and then deploying as needed to the various platforms without having to put any thought into it. Flutter also is a super user-friendly environment, it uses the dart programming language which is fast but it also uses web assembly which is also faster than javascript so right off the bat it's going to perform better than javascript. Again it's still new in recent years and it's only going to get better as we move along.
NOW! let's talk about just the money and freelancing behind cross-platform apps. You are not going to find any jobs for a flutter or react-native but the real jobs are in native. They're innate now if you want to become a top freelancer where you go to clients and you say ” I can build you an iPhone and android app for your business to help you make more money”, you have huge opportunities with cross-platform.
You can go far with a cross-platform system but there are no jobs there, the jobs are in native. So there's some overview of native and cross-platform and I just want to mention a few more, one is Xamarin. Xamarin allows you to build cross-platform apps in c sharp. Professional opinion states you should only ever use
Xamarin if your team is well versed in it. If your team is c-sharp experts and you don't want to learn new stuff that's when you should use Xamarin, it does not have as many features as react native or flutter and there are lots of problems with that might come with it. Also in my experience the apps just don't come out as high quality. Again you can try it out for yourself but Xamarin allows you to build cross-platform apps with c-sharp and even though the platform isn’t the most reliable option we can still built an app in the company for it.
Similarly with ionic, ionic is like a third-party type of framework for building cross-platform apps. It's been around for a while, some people like but…. better to go for the open-source route of react native or flutter and dart where huge companies are backing it. There are some other older ones too like phone gap and things like that but, really the true contenders for the cross-platform are flutter versus react native.
Flutter is faster by design because it's going to be used with a web assembly under the hood….
Javascript is typically a slow language, as mentioned earlier but if you are a javascript developer and that's what you know, obviously do react native, it makes sense
So at last moving forward to some tips related to cross-platform…the jobs are in native, you can do great things with freelancing and cross-platform if you're a small business or app and you want to focus on your business without having to hire a bunch of developers. If you need extreme performance use native swift or native Kotlin and android.
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INTRODUCTION TO DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Darshana Bodhale — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:32:24 +0000

As we all know data is the backbone and most critical resource of any organization. Every organization must have an accurate and reliable data for effective decision making. In this era of information explosion where people are bombarded with data, getting right information, in the right amount, at right time is not an easy task. Therefore, only those organizations will survive that successfully manage information.

In this blog we will learn:
• Some Basic concepts of DBMS
• What is database management system?
• Types of Databases
• Advantages of DBMS
• Disadvantages of DBMS

Some Basic concepts of DBMS
• Data:
The term data is defined as the raw facts or details from which information is derived. It may be anything like texts, numbers, images, videos etc.

• Information:
Data and Information are closely related to each other. Information is data that have been put into meaningful and useful content and communicated to recipient who uses it to make decisions. Data are processed to create information. The recipient receives the information and then makes decisions.

• Database:
Database is a collection of logically related data stored together that is designed to meet information requirements of an organization.
The example of a database is a employee directory that contains names, salary, birth date, sex and branch name of the employees stored in the computer storage.

What is Database Management system?
Database Management system is a collection of Software application that provides a quick way to access, modify, process, store, control and manage the data. It acts as an interface between the application program and the data stored in the database.
For ex: Oracle, MYSQL, SQL Server.

The DBMS performs the following five major functions:

Create and organize database: DBMS is creating and managing the complex structures required for data storage, establishes the logical relationship among different data elements in database also define schemas and subschemas using DDL.
Input data: It performs function like entering the data into the database through an input device with the help of user.
Process data: It manipulates and process the data stored in database using DML.
Maintain Security: It allows limited access to the database to authorized user to main security.
Query database: Provides information to the users for decision making. This information is provided by querying the database using SQL.

Types of Databases:
Some basic types of databases are:
• Relational Databases- In relational database, information is stored in tabular forms or in tables. It depends upon the mathematical concepts of relation.
• NOSQL Databases- It help users create and maintain wide range of data sets. It stores data in the form of Document, graph, Key-value, Hash doc,
• Hierarchical Databases: It is based on tree structure. It consists of collection of records, that are connected to each other by links.
• Network databases: It is based on graph structure. It provides data independence, data integrity and capability to handle more relationship types.

Advantages of DBMS:
• Data redundancy: In a database, the duplication of data can be carefully controlled, the database is aware of redundancy and it vassumes the responsibility for propagating updates.
• Data consistency: Updating multiple files in file system leads to inaccurate data as different files may contain different information of same data item. This causes incorrect or contradictory information to users. So this problem of inconsistent data is automatically solved by controlling redundancy.
• Improved security: It helps protecting the data contained in the database from unauthorized users.
• Sharing of data: The data is centrally controlled and can be shared by all authorized users.
• Improved data integrity: Data integrity means that the data contained in the database is both accurate and consistent. The centralized control property allow adequate checks can be incorporated to provide data integrity.

Disadvantages of DBMS:
• Need for backup and recovery: For a database system to be accurate and all time available, a procedure is required to be developed and used for providing backup copies to all its users when any damage occurs.
• Increases Complexity: The data structure may become more complex because of centralized database supporting many applications in an organization. This may leads to difficulties in management and may require professionals.
• Cost of hardware: The cost of database system’s installation is much more as it depends on environment and functionality,size of hardware and maintenance costs of hardware.

I hope this blog might helped you with “What is dbms?” and has explained you everything regarding it.
Happy learning!!

Introducing the first step in Android Development

Apoorva Rode — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 09:54:28 +0000

Along with web development, android development is also streaming fast. Android Development is provoking many aspirants to shake up with their skills. Everyone is making wonderful use of this technology to bring up their companies, work, and innovations. When we want to start a new journey we came up with many questions, so here we are going to put a first baby step in android development. Starting with the word “Android”, it is an operating system and it is intensified for mobile phones. So in simple words, we are going to learn how to build an application for mobile phones(any android device).
"Android Studio" is a platform to develop an application and it consists of all the libraries or packages required in executing apps called APK(Android Package Kit). So you need to download this for coding. There are many languages used in android development like Java, Kotlin,c#, python, etc. and famous frameworks are used for implementing an application that includes languages like React, Native, Flutter, etc. Google mostly supports Java or Kotlin to start the learning in android studio code but many companies are opting for applications using Kotlin and it’s moreover giving an impact on big tech companies. Similarly, If you opt for java then it will be an asset.
For any language, you choose you must be thoroughly cleaned with the concept of OOPS and DSA so that it gets easy to understand and implement the concept while developing.