Google’s recent announcement of their new programming language called ‘Dart’ (Previously called ‘Dash’) has gotten a lot of programmers talking about it, and with good reason.
Dart is an upcoming web programming language being completely developed and backed by Google Inc. with the main goal of being an alternative to – or possibly completely replace – JavaScript for web browser scripting. But can it accomplish such a task? Will it become the new main scripting language for web browsers?
What We Know
We currently don’t know an incredible amount about Dart or its capabilities besides what Google has released thus far. Google plans to completely unveil Dart at the GOTO conference in Aarhus this October.
What we do know is that Dart is planned to be much faster and more elegant than JavaScript while having better security features and the ability “to be more easily tooled for large-scale projects”.
Dart is being designed to keep the dynamic no-compile nature that JavaScript currently has to help compete with JavaScript while also having the ability to create VMs that don’t have the same performance issues that all current ECMAScript VMs have.
Google is currently planning to have three different ways of running Dart:
As a dedicated VM, which will run in every browser similar to JavaScript
On a server, with the ability to enable “Google-scale” web applications where both the front end and the back end are programmed using the same programming language
With a cross-compiler that will compile Dart ECMAScript 3 on the fly to be used with non-Dart browsers that aren’t normally compatible with it
Google is also planning to create a cloud-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment) called ‘Brightly’ that will allow you to build any application in V1 using JavaScript. It is also rumored that Brightly will be the first application written in Dart.
Dart Vs. JavaScript
When Dart releases it will be competing directly with JavaScript and if it’s good enough, it will possibly replace JavaScript entirely. But what will Dart need to accomplish in order to de-throne JavaScript?
First – and possibly most importantly – Dart needs to be quick and run smoothly. Anyone that’s gone to a website that heavily uses JavaScript will tell you that JavaScript can run slow and clunky at times. If Dart is to replace JavaScript, this should be Google’s number one priority.
Another way Dart can improve upon JavaScript is through ease of use and by speeding up development time. If Dart can manage to cut down development time considerably, then it will already be deemed superior to JavaScript in the eyes of many programmers.
Finally, Dart will need to have good compatibility, and this means working seamlessly across all browsers and operating systems. Luckily, it would seem Google has already came to that conclusion themselves and are working on making Dart as compatible as possible.
While there are many other things Dart can try to improve upon, I feel these three are the most important areas for Google to focus on at the moment.
Conclusion
It’s pretty obvious that Google is aiming to have Dart eventually replace JavaScript for web browser scripting, but will Dart have what it takes to accomplish such a feat? Only time will tell, but things are definitely looking good for Google’s Dart.
Sources:
gotocon.com
Google’s “Future of JavaScript” Email