Flutter Development Concepts and Methods

Context: Zomato's Applications Developer interview panel asked about Flutter development directly, testing depth of framework knowledge rather than a coding exercise.

Q: What are the core concepts and methods you should know in Flutter development? A: Candidates should be able to speak to: the widget tree (StatelessWidget vs StatefulWidget), the build() method and how Flutter re-renders on setState()/state changes, State management approaches (Provider, Riverpod, Bloc, setState), the widget lifecycle (initState, dispose, didUpdateWidget), how Flutter compiles to native ARM code via Dart AOT/JIT, hot reload vs hot restart, and common layout widgets (Row, Column, Stack, ListView) plus how constraints flow down and sizes flow up in the layout algorithm.