What is the purpose of @override in Flutter?

In Flutter, the @override annotation is used to indicate that a method in a subclass is intended to override a method with the same name in its superclass or an interface. It is a way to explicitly state that the method is intentionally providing a new implementation or behavior for the superclass/interface method.

When you mark a method with @override, it helps ensure that you are actually overriding a method and not accidentally creating a new method with a similar name. If there is no corresponding method in the superclass or interface, the Dart analyzer will generate an error.

Here's an example to illustrate the usage of @override in Flutter:

class Animal {
  void makeSound() {
    print('Unknown sound');
  }
}

class Cat extends Animal {
  @override
  void makeSound() {
    print('Meow!');
  }
}

void main() {
  Cat cat = Cat();
  cat.makeSound(); // Output: Meow!
}

In this example, we have an Animal class with a makeSound() method. The Cat class extends Animal and overrides the makeSound() method using the @override annotation. When calling makeSound() on an instance of Cat, the overridden method in Cat is executed, producing the output "Meow!" instead of the default "Unknown sound" defined in Animal.

Using @override is a good practice because it improves code readability and helps prevent accidental mistakes when subclassing or implementing interfaces in Flutter.