Sealed Class in Flutter
Enhancing Type Safety and Code Organization in Flutter
Sealed classes are a new addition to Dart 3
, aimed at providing enhanced type safety and control over subclassing in Flutter applications. With sealed classes, developers can control which classes extend a base class, limiting them to the same file or library. This approach brings structure, safety, and predictability to class hierarchies, especially when dealing with complex state management or decision trees in Flutter apps.
What are Sealed Classes in Flutter? 📦
A sealed class is essentially an abstract class but with one key difference: it restricts the extension of the class to the same library or file. This means that subclasses must reside within the same scope, ensuring that the class hierarchy is well-defined and cannot be arbitrarily extended elsewhere in the codebase. This restriction brings several benefits in terms of predictability, type safety, and code organization.
Key Characteristics of Sealed Classes 🔑
- Type safety: Sealed classes enforce exhaustive checking in
switch
statements, similar to enums. If a new subclass is added, the compiler ensures that all cases are handled, reducing runtime errors. - Controlled extension: Unlike abstract classes, sealed…