Estoy siguiendo un tutorial de GitHub y me quedo bloqueado al intentar entender el sentido de este *parse*: `return int.parse(packageInfo.buildNumber) < snapshot.value;

@override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    _checkCurrentUser();
    Offline.setKeepSynced(1, true);

    _filter = new Map<String, String>();
    _filter.addAll(widget.filter);
    _filter.remove(filterColor);
    _key = new GlobalKey<ScaffoldState>();
    _rateStateF = Prefs.getStringF(keyRateState, rateStateInitial);
    _isNewVersionF = PackageInfo.fromPlatform().then((PackageInfo packageInfo) {
      return FirebaseDatabase.instance
          .reference()
          .child(firebaseVersions)
          .child(Platform.isAndroid ? firebaseAttributeAndroid : firebaseAttributeIOS)
          .once()
          .then((DataSnapshot snapshot) {
        return int.parse(packageInfo.buildNumber) < snapshot.value;
      });
    });