Finally, after several milestones through Alpha and Beta versions, the multiplatform framework for building declarative UI applications goes stable with version 1. 0.

Jetpack Compose started out as a declarative toolkit for building UI apps on Android but through its incarnation as Compose Multiplatform it has quickly become a common method of building user interfaces not just for Android but for the Desktop and Web too thanks to its a common codebase and UI components. After a few milestones, Alpha and Beta releases, we now have stable version 1.0.

In fact, there was so much fragmentation between Multiplatform's versions, components and updates that prompted us to clear up things with Jetpack Compose For Web - Putting Order To Chaos: "Compose this, Compose that, it's easy to loose track. So let's put order to this chaos!"

So what does this new version have in store?

But before that, let's take a look at what the last beta version of Compose Multiplatform brought. Because at the time Compose for Desktop and Compose for Web were using separate sets of artifacts, it merely aligned their versioning with the rest of the Compose Multiplatform in order to make use of the same declarative approach and APIs used for modern Android applications to create native-feeling user interfaces for desktop and web apps.

Now version 1. 0 makes all that ready for production use:

• On Desktop, users can now create Kotlin apps with beautiful user interfaces quickly and efficiently.
  
  
• On the web, users can now build single-page applications and dynamic experiences much more conveniently using Kotlin.
  
  
• Overall, sharing expertise and code between various platforms is much easier now.

Rendering is now done over Skia, the 2D graphics engine that’s used in Google Chrome. This means that Compose Multiplatform now supports all major hardware acceleration engines on the Desktop, such as DirectX, Metal, and OpenGL. For environments where hardware acceleration is not available, Compose comes with an optimized software renderer.

Other changes include a Compose Multiplatform IDEA plugin that streamlines the rebuilding of a UI application, a Gradle plugin that supports application packaging to the msi, dmg and deb formats, and the addition of Compose Multiplatform Wizards in IntelliJ IDEA 2021.

Finally, Jetbrains, in an attempt to put its money where its mouth is, proves the utility of Compose Multiplatform by revamping its JetBrains Toolbox App, the company’s application manager with over 1 million users, by re-building it on Compose Multiplatform. That way it provides a concrete example of how adopting Compose Multiplatform leads to decreased memory consumption, smaller installer size, and improved performance. 

More Information

Compose Multiplatform 1.0 is going live!

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 Jetpack Compose For Web - Putting Order To Chaos

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