What Do Flutter Developers Ask About? An Empirical Study on Stack Overflow Posts

Abstract

Since Google launched Flutter, an open-source framework, in 2017, many companies and software developers have turned to its use owing to its cross-platform feature. Other attractive features include hot reloading, a rich widget library, and improved performance compared to other cross-platform frameworks. Despite the rise in the use and adoption of the framework, little has been done to understand developers’ challenges. This study aims to understand what Flutter developers post on Stack Overflow – a popular Q&A website for developers. Analyzing such posts would help us understand the challenges faced by Flutter developers. To meet this goal, the study used a topic modeling approach to analyze all “flutter” tagged posts between 2019 and 2023. This study revealed state management, widgets, navigation, packages, and persistence as some areas developers face challenges. Further, the study established that there is a growth in the number of Flutter-related posts and developers. While the Flutter framework is promising for companies and software developers, this study points out areas where Flutter trainers and developers should emphasize. Flutter Framework developers should provide more documentation and support as the language matures.