Core Flutter Programming

Section 1: Setting Up the Tools and a Flutter Overview

• Install the Flutter SDK, check it with flutter doctor and set up an Android emulator or a real device
• Flutter's architecture: the framework, the engine and the Impeller renderer
• Project structure, the pubspec.yaml file and adding packages from pub.dev
• Lab: create a first project, run it on the emulator and try hot reload

Section 2: Dart Fundamentals and Null Safety

• Variables, type inference, final and const
• Sound null safety and the ?, !, ?? and ?. operators
• Functions, named and optional parameters, and collections (List, Set, Map) with collection if/for
• Lab: write a Dart program that manages menu items and prices without null risks

Section 3: Object-Oriented Programming in Dart

• Classes, constructors, factory constructors and the primary constructors introduced in Dart 3.13
• Inheritance, mixins, abstract classes and interfaces
• Class modifiers (sealed, final, base, interface) and extension methods
• Lab: design menu and food category classes with primary constructors

Section 4: Records, Patterns and Sealed Classes

• Records for returning several values from a function
• Pattern matching with switch expressions and destructuring
• Exhaustiveness checking with sealed classes, and dot shorthands
• Lab: model order status with a sealed class and a switch expression

Section 5: Workshop Day 1: Async Code and the NovaBite Domain Model

• Future, async and await for work that has to wait for a result
• Stream and StreamController for data that changes over time
• Handling errors with try/catch in asynchronous code
• Workshop: build MenuItem, CartItem and Order, calculate totals, discounts and tax, and simulate loading the menu asynchronously

Section 6: Widgets and Rendering

• How widgets, elements and render objects relate to each other
• StatelessWidget and StatefulWidget, and their lifecycle
• BuildContext and using const widgets to reduce rebuilds
• Lab: split a screen into small reusable widgets

Section 7: Common Layout Widgets

• Container, Padding, Row, Column, Stack and Expanded/Flexible
• ListView, GridView and CustomScrollView with slivers
• Reading constraints and fixing overflow problems
• Lab: lay out food menu cards and fix the most common overflow errors

Section 8: Responsive and Adaptive Design

• MediaQuery and LayoutBuilder
• Designing for both phones and tablets
• Adaptive widgets that suit Android and iOS
• Lab: make the menu screen switch between a list and a grid by screen size

Section 9: Material 3 and Theming

• Material 3 colour schemes, typography and components
• Light and dark modes and a custom brand theme
• The material_ui and cupertino_ui packages now published separately from the SDK, and how to migrate to them
• Lab: build the NovaBite brand theme with light and dark modes

Section 10: Workshop Day 2: Menu and Food Detail Screens

• Hot reload, hot restart and Widget Previews for building widgets in isolation
• Flutter DevTools and the Widget Inspector for checking screen structure
• Workshop: build the menu screen grouped by food category and the food detail screen
• Workshop: check screens across sizes and both colour modes with Widget Previews

Section 11: Navigation Basics

• Navigator, routes and passing data between screens
• Returning a result from the destination screen
• The limits of imperative navigation as an app grows
• Lab: open the food detail screen from the menu list and pass data to it

Section 12: go_router for Real Apps

• Defining routes, path parameters and query parameters
• Nested routes and ShellRoute for bottom navigation
• Redirects based on sign-in state, and basic deep links
• Lab: define every route of the app with go_router

Section 13: Forms and Validation

• Form, TextFormField and GlobalKey
• Validation rules and error messages that users understand
• Managing focus and the keyboard on mobile
• Lab: build a sign-up form with validation on every field

Section 14: Interacting with Users

• Dialogs, bottom sheets and snack bars
• Basic gestures such as tap, long press and swipe to delete
• Implicit animations and Hero animations
• Lab: add a bottom sheet for food options and a Hero animation for menu images

Section 15: Workshop Day 3: NovaBite Routes and Sign-in

• Set up four-tab bottom navigation (menu, cart, orders and profile) with ShellRoute
• Build the sign-up and sign-in screens with validation
• Redirect to the sign-in screen when the user is not signed in
• Workshop: test every flow on the emulator and fix anything awkward to use

Section 16: State Management Concepts

• Ephemeral state and app state
• The limits of setState and InheritedWidget as an app grows
• An overview of popular state management approaches in Flutter
• Lab: decide which NovaBite state belongs to a screen and which belongs to the app

Section 17: Riverpod 3

• ProviderScope, providers and ref (watch, read, listen)
• Notifier and AsyncNotifier for state with logic
• Code generation with riverpod_annotation, provider lifecycle and families
• Lab: move the cart state into a Notifier

Section 18: Riverpod Compared with Cubit/BLoC

• How Cubit and BLoC work (states and events)
• Strengths and limits of each approach
• Choosing an approach to suit team size and project
• Lab: write the cart as a Cubit and compare the code with Riverpod

Section 19: Connecting to REST APIs

• HTTP calls with dio (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
• Mapping JSON to models with json_serializable
• Interceptors for attaching tokens and handling errors
• The repository pattern to separate the data layer from the UI
• Lab: load the menu from the mock REST API through a repository

Section 20: Workshop Day 4: The Cart and Menu Data from the API

• Show the menu from the API through an AsyncNotifier with loading and error states
• Manage the cart and user state with Riverpod
• Send orders back to the API and show the result to the user
• Workshop: cut the API connection and improve the messages and retry button until they work well

Section 21: Local Storage

• shared_preferences for settings and tokens
• SQLite with sqflite or drift for structured data
• Offline-first ideas and caching API data
• Lab: save order history to SQLite so it can be viewed without an internet connection

Section 22: Testing Basics

• Unit tests for business logic and notifiers
• Widget tests and overriding providers in tests
• Mocking repositories with mocktail
• Lab: write tests for the price calculation and the cart screen

Section 23: App Quality and Performance

• Lints and dart fix to keep code to standard
• Checking performance and finding unnecessary rebuilds with DevTools
• Managing app assets, fonts and icons
• Lab: use DevTools to find and fix a screen that stutters while scrolling

Section 24: Building and Preparing for Release

• Setting the app name, package name and version
• Building an APK and an App Bundle for Android
• An overview of iOS builds and the Xcode and Apple Developer Program requirements (demonstration)
• The idea of flavours for separate development and production environments
• Lab: build an APK and install it on a real Android phone or the emulator

Section 25: Master Workshop: A Ready-to-use NovaBite App

• Store the token and settings on the device and add an offline order history screen
• Write unit and widget tests for the key parts of the app
• Test what happens when the API is down or the network is slow, and adjust the UI to match
• Build the app, install it on a device, present the result and review the code structure together