I've seen many tutorials praising Bloc State management, what is so special about it and should I learn it as a beginner? if not is there any beginner friendly state management technique?
2 Answers
I would suggest using Getx as I have been using it for 2 years and it's great. As it makes your code arrangement great. I used it when I was a beginner & never encountered a need to use any other state management.
BLoC/Cubit
BLoC is great for complex state management for complex apps. However, inside the BLoC library there's a simpler way of managing state that's called Cubit (Cubit is sort of a subset of BLoC). Cubit is largely the same as BLoC except:
- less boilerplate
- doesn't use 2-way streams
This renders it much easier to learn, and a fantastic stepping-stone into a full-out BLoC driven state management solution.
Currently, my team and I are building a very complex app, and we use the principle: use Cubit's, unless there's a specific reason to use a BLoC. This has worked well for us (85% of our app is run with Cubit, 15% with BLoC).
In relation to other state management techniques, most people are probably going to recommend Provider or Riverpods (Riverpods = Provider on steroids). They are easier to learn than Cubit/BLoC. Except, only for simple cases (a few page app). Once your app gets complex (authentication, feeds, api calls, etc.) a Cubit/BLoC-based architecture is going to scale better and be much cleaner.
Additionally, the most-used state management system for production-level Flutter apps is BLoC/Cubit. So, if you're looking for a marketable skill, I'd default to that.
Helpful links:
- Flutter package that contains BOTH BLoC and Cubit.
- The tutorial series I watched to learn BLoC/Cubit (and recommend!).
- I HIGHLY recommend watching this series as well that shows WHERE to put your BLoC/Cubit in an app to align with best practices and clean architecture.
Example app:
Here's a simple 1-feature app I made as a proof of concept to show how Cubit specifically works
Conclusion:
Provider, GetX, Riverpods, etc. are all easier to learn and contain less boilerplate than BLoC, except they won't scale as well when your app gets more complex.
To help combat the boilerplate/complexity problem of BLoC, use Cubits instead of BLoCs in your design unless you have a specific need for BLoCs.
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