About
Self-taught programmer, writer, trainer, comedian, new media host. Published author…
Services
Articles by Randal
-
Looking for FLOSS Weekly guests
Looking for FLOSS Weekly guests
My FLOSS Weekly podcast could always use some guests. The show is recorded weekly via remote video Skype and is…
1 Comment
Activity
11K followers
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisFlutter is unbundling Material Design and Cupertino libraries from the monolithic core framework into standalone packages on pub.dev (package:material_ui and package:cupertino_ui). Is your AI ready?Randal Schwartz shared this🚀 Major Architecture Shift in Flutter: Standalone Material & Cupertino UI Packages! Flutter is unbundling Material Design and Cupertino libraries from the monolithic core framework into standalone packages on pub.dev (package:material_ui and package:cupertino_ui). While this brings faster release cadences, smaller app bundles, and pure headless core development (building directly on package:flutter/widgets.dart), it also introduces a significant codebase migration across the ecosystem. If you use AI coding assistants like Google Antigravity, Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or Cline, they often stumble on this transition due to LLM training cutoffs. In my latest article, I walk through how you can use the open-source "dart-sdk-skills" repository to teach your AI coding agents to automate this migration in a single prompt: 🔍 What the runbook covers: • Running data-driven automated refactors via `dart fix --apply --code=migrate_design_widgets` • Updating pubspec.yaml dependencies and rewriting canonical imports • Configuring updated GlobalMaterialLocalizations delegates • Building lightweight headless apps with zero Material/Cupertino overhead 📖 Read the full article on DEV: https://lnkd.in/gk5KhRNw #Flutter #Dart #FlutterCommunity #MobileDevelopment #SoftwareEngineering #AI #ProgrammingAutomate Flutter's New Split Package Migration with AI Agent SkillsAutomate Flutter's New Split Package Migration with AI Agent Skills
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisWhere no major state manager has gone before: mixin reactive state! Just published CubitSignalMixin and BlocSignalMixin to seamlessly give your class hierarchy superpowers! #dart #flutter #blocsignal #statemanagementRandal Schwartz shared thisIn Dart, classes are restricted to single inheritance. But in real-world Flutter, your domain repositories and UI controllers already extend base classes like TextEditingController, ChangeNotifier, or BaseRepository. In bloc_signals 1.2.0, we’ve introduced CubitSignalMixin and BlocSignalMixin—allowing you to mix 0ms synchronous reactivity and event concurrency directly into existing classes without wrapper boilerplate or proxy objects. Read Episode 26 of the BlocSignal Architecture series: https://lnkd.in/ghv9_TEc #Flutter #Dart #MobileDevelopment #SoftwareArchitecture #StateManagement
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisToday: true bi-directional interop between BlocSignal and BOTH Riverpod and Classic Bloc! #bloc #riverpod #dart #flutter #blocsignalRandal Schwartz shared thisState management in Flutter does not have to be an ideological battleground or an all-or-nothing rewrite. Today, I’m excited to announce the release of bloc_signals_bloc and a major update to bloc_signals_riverpod (v1.2.0), bringing full bidirectional peer interoperability across Flutter’s state management ecosystem. At the "Grand Central State Terminal", three foundational rail lines now operate side by side as first-class equals: 🚂 Classic BLoC — The battle-tested event-driven iron horse 🚚 Riverpod — The declarative dependency graph logistics hauler 🚄 BlocSignal — The high-speed, streamless synchronous signal maglev What this means for engineering teams: 🔹 No More Rewrite Tax: Introduce synchronous, fine-grained Signals into massive legacy BLoC or Riverpod codebases one widget or screen at a time. 🔹 Respect for Established Code: Existing authentication BLoCs and Riverpod dependency trees plug directly into reactive signal pipelines with zero migration friction. 🔹 Typed Bidirectional Control: Mutate Riverpod notifiers or dispatch BLoC events directly through signal peer handles with automatic lifecycle disposal. Read the complete breakdown and see how all three architectures seamlessly synchronize in our Triple Counter reference app: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gq_w9YUD Documentation and live interactive showcases: https://blocsignal.dev #Flutter #Dart #SoftwareArchitecture #MobileDevelopment #TechLeadership #StateManagement #OpenSource
-
Randal Schwartz shared this🚀 Saying goodbye to FutureBuilder and StreamBuilder boilerplate in Flutter. Introducing bloc_signals 1.1.0 with conversions from futures, streams, and signals into synchronous CubitSignal objects. #dart #flutterRandal Schwartz shared this🚀 Saying goodbye to FutureBuilder and StreamBuilder boilerplate in Flutter. Flutter developers know the drill with asynchronous widgets: ❌ Re-executing futures whenever a parent widget rebuilds. ❌ Nesting verbose AsyncSnapshot matching and ConnectionState switches inside UI build methods. ❌ Glitchy layout flicker and complex teardown logic. We just released bloc_signals 1.1.0, introducing symmetrical async adapters that lift Future<T> and Stream<T> directly into synchronous, fine-grained state containers at the business logic layer. 💡 What’s new in 1.1.0: • Symmetrical Dual-Track Adapters: Seamlessly choose between raw domain values (future.toBlocSignal(initialState: ...)) and sealed pattern-matched states (future.toAsyncBlocSignal()). • Universal Signal Bridging: Wrap any Signal, Computed, or StreamSignal directly into a BlocSignalBase. • Synchronous UI Rebuilds: Consume async data in UI components with BlocSignalBuilder or context.select() with zero unnecessary widget re-evaluations. 📖 Check out the full architectural deep-dive on DEV.to: 👉 https://lnkd.in/ggbW8sGW 📦 Package on pub.dev: https://lnkd.in/g5zzy8Wg 🌐 Docs & Playground: https://blocsignal.dev #Flutter #Dart #MobileDevelopment #StateManagement #ReactiveProgramming #OpenSource #SoftwareArchitecture
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisI need this shirt for my next #Flutter conference...
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisIs FutureBuilder an architectural anti-pattern in large-scale Flutter apps? Yes! But replace it with what? #dart #flutter #blocsignal #architectureRandal Schwartz shared thisIs FutureBuilder an architectural anti-pattern in large-scale Flutter apps? While convenient for quick demos, embedding raw asynchronous futures and streams directly into widget trees violates the core Flutter design tenet: Widgets should be pure, synchronous projections of state. This trap is so prevalent that even the original Flutter documentation video for FutureBuilder made the mistake of constructing the future inside build() until I filed a bug report (the current official video on YouTube still shows "Take 2" on the clapperboard as proof!). In Part 21 of the BlocSignal Architecture & Practice series on DEV.to, I break down: 🛑 The four fatal flaws of in-view asynchrony (layering collapse, accidental refetching, uncoordinated layout shifts, and fragile async tests). 🛡️ The "Async at the Edge" architectural pattern using AsyncSignal and BlocSignal. ⚡ How to achieve deterministic, Frame 1 synchronous widget testing without flaky pumpAndSettle() delays. 🔗 Read the full deep-dive here: https://lnkd.in/gg_Zg9mK #Flutter #Dart #MobileDevelopment #SoftwareArchitecture #StateManagement #GoogleDeveloperExpertsFutureBuilder and StreamBuilder as Anti-Patterns: Why Your Async Boundary Should Be Far Away From Your ViewsFutureBuilder and StreamBuilder as Anti-Patterns: Why Your Async Boundary Should Be Far Away From Your Views
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisRandal Schwartz shared this#HumpdayQandA and Live Coding in 30 minutes at 5pm BST / 6pm CEST / 9am PDT today! Answering your #Flutter and #Dart questions with Simon, Randal, John and Esra https://lnkd.in/gADnmipU
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisRandal Schwartz shared thisWhy does your AI coding assistant keep writing 2021-era Dart? 🤖 Over the last few years, the Dart language and Flutter ecosystem have evolved at a blistering pace: • Dart 2.12: Sound Null Safety (?, late, !, required) • Dart 2.17: Super-parameters and enhanced enums • Dart 3.0: Records, pattern matching, switch expressions, and sealed classes • Dart 3.13+: Primary constructors and modern concise shorthands Because LLM pre-training datasets naturally lag behind bleeding-edge releases, AI coding agents (Claude Code, Google Antigravity, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) often struggle with the "training cutoff gap." They frequently reject modern Dart 3.13 syntax as errors, generate excessive boilerplate, or miss the exact minSdk lower bounds in pubspec.yaml. To solve this, I've open-sourced dart-sdk-skills—an authoritative, version-by-version agent skill suite covering Dart 1.0 all the way to 3.14. Using progressive disclosure, it equips AI agents with: 1. Instant minSdk verification for any language grammar feature or core API. 2. Complete guides for modern Dart 3.13+ ergonomics. 3. A 4-stage legacy rescue runbook for migrating older pre-null-safety apps directly into modern Dart 3. Installable globally across any compatible agent with a single command: npx skills add RandalSchwartz/dart-sdk-skills -g Check out the full article and architecture breakdown below: https://lnkd.in/gnNPZzeK #Dart #Flutter #SoftwareEngineering #ArtificialIntelligence #Programming #GenerativeAIBridging the AI Cutoff: Teaching Coding Agents Every Dart Feature from 1.0 to 3.14Bridging the AI Cutoff: Teaching Coding Agents Every Dart Feature from 1.0 to 3.14
-
Randal Schwartz shared thisShould your Flutter feature be a raw signal, a lightweight Cubit, or a full event-driven BLoC? Stop guessing state architecture. Here is the definitive 4-tier decision rubric: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gTgSuBJx #Flutter #Dart #FlutterDevWhen to Use Bloc vs. Cubit vs. Signal: An Architectural Decision GuideWhen to Use Bloc vs. Cubit vs. Signal: An Architectural Decision Guide
Randal Schwartz replied to a comment
16h
Wilfried Bodjoko Wilfried Here's the start of that, and more to come (and check out the rest of the 28 articles so far): https://dev.to/gde/production-flutter-networking-without-the-boilerplate-reactive-repositories-with-blocsignal-4c3c
Randal Schwartz replied to a comment
17h
Wilfried Bodjoko Wilfried Looking forward to seeing the benchmark results as you refine it! Keep up the great work 🚀
Randal Schwartz replied to a comment
18h
Wilfried Bodjoko Wilfried Hi Wilfried, thanks for sharing!
Using phantom types for layout scoping (Modifier<FlexScope>, Modifier<StackScope>) to catch illegal parent-child placements at compile-time is a very clever application of Dart generics.
The main architectural balance to benchmark will be Element tree overhead vs. allocation cost: making sure the intermediate ModifierNode/provider layer doesn't introduce more Element lifecycle overhead than Flutter's native, lightweight const widget reconciliation already skips.
Really neat project and great initiative tackling the layout nesting problem—starred the repo!
Experience & Education
Licenses & Certifications
Volunteer Experience
-
Board member
The Kids Project
Children
Produced a cable access show; attended public events as spokesperson.
-
Google Developer Expert
Google Developer Experts
- Present 8 years 2 months
Science and Technology
The Google Developer Experts program is a global network of highly experienced technology experts, influencers, and thought leaders who have expertise in Google technologies, are active leaders in the space, natural mentors, and contribute to the wider developer and startup ecosystem.
Publications
-
Effective Perl Programming (Japanese translation)
Addison-Wesley, ASCII (アスキー)
Original English edition: "Effective Perl Programming: Writing Better Programs with Perl" by Joseph N. Hall and Randal L. Schwartz (Addison-Wesley ISBN 0-201-41975-0);
Japanese edition:『Effective Perl』（吉川邦夫訳、アスキー出版局 ISBN 4-7561-3057-7） http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4756130577/Other authorsSee publication
Projects
-
FLOSS Weekly podcast
- Present
A weekly interview with the leaders of open source projects and others influential in the open source community.
Other creatorsSee project
Languages
-
Spanish
Limited working proficiency
-
Perl
Native or bilingual proficiency
Recommendations received
9 people have recommended Randal
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
Explore more posts
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top contentOthers named Randal Schwartz
4 others named Randal Schwartz are on LinkedIn
See others named Randal Schwartz