Let’s open up that toy box and look even closer at the special things we can do with a Dart List.
1. The Super Toy Box (Creating a List)
A Dart List is like a special container that uses square brackets [] to hold all the items, with a comma , separating each item.
| What we want to store | Dart Code |
| A list of numbers (like toy scores) | var scores = [10, 20, 30]; |
| A list of names (like friends) | var friends = ['Mia', 'Sam', 'Tom']; |
| A box with different types of things | var mixedBox = [1, 'apple', true]; |
2. The Finger Pointer (Accessing Items)
Remember how we use the index to find a specific toy? This is a super important trick!
- The counting starts at zero (0)!
| Item Position | Index Number | Item |
| First Item | 0 | friends[0] is ‘Mia’ |
| Second Item | 1 | friends[1] is ‘Sam’ |
| Third Item | 2 | friends[2] is ‘Tom’ |
The Trick: You use the list name, and then the index number in square brackets.
var friends = ['Mia', 'Sam', 'Tom'];
print(friends[0]); // Output: Mia
3. Making Changes to the Box (Modifying a List)
Your toy box is not sealed shut! You can always make changes.
| What you want to do | Dart Code |
| Add a new item to the end | friends.add('Zoe'); |
| Take out an item (by its value) | friends.remove('Sam'); |
| Replace an item (using the index) | friends[0] = 'Liam'; (Replaces ‘Mia’ with ‘Liam’) |
| Count how many items are in the box | print(friends.length); |
4. A Special Kind of Box (Fixed vs. Growable)
Most of the Lists you will use are Growable. This means you can keep adding or removing items whenever you want.
But sometimes, you might need a special box that cannot change its size once you make it. That’s a Fixed-Length List. You tell Dart, “This box will only ever hold 5 toys, and no more!”
But for almost all your coding, you’ll use the easy, Growable List (like the ones we made above with var friends = [...]).
In short: A Dart List is a simple, organized way to store a group of things where the order matters, and you can easily look up, add, or change any of the items using a starting-from-zero number called an index.
Read More: Flutter Version: Latest Version, Prompt for Check Version and Update Note
Summary
- A List is like a box or basket.
- You can put things in, take things out, and look at them.
- Dart uses Lists to keep things in order.