Google's bid to fix Javascript, Dart, is ready for the real world

A year ago, Google unveiled a programming language called Dart in an attempt to fix what’s wrong with JavaScript. The hope was to eventually “replace JavaScript as the lingua franca of Web development."

At the time, it was just a technology preview, more useful for people interested in developing Dart itself than for those interested in developing applications with Dart. That’s not to say developers couldn’t build with Dart, but the language needed a complete set of development tools to get a sniff of the mainstream. And that’s exactly what Google delivered today, with what it calls the “first developer-oriented version of the Dart SDK.”

The key improvements and features, according to Google software engineer Lars Bak, are as follows:

• A faster Dart Virtual Machine that outperforms even V8 on some Octane tests

• A new Dart to JavaScript translator that generates fast and compact output

• An HTML library that works transparently on modern browsers

• A library to interoperate with JavaScript code

• An easy to use editor

• Pub, a new package manager

• Dartium, a Chromium build with native Dart support

• A server-side I/O library

• A language specification describing the Dart semantics, including new features

Although Google is seeking to build a language that is simpler and faster than JavaScript, it won't replace JavaScript at this early date. While developers could build applications in Dart alone, Google is providing tools to compile finished code to JavaScript, an essential step in making applications that can work in extant browsers.

The aforementioned Dart Virtual Machine will also let developers test applications in Web browsers without having to compile to JavaScript first. To that end, Google in February released a version of Chromium called "Dartium" that embeds the Dart Virtual Machine.

Downloading the Dart Editor will give developers a copy of both the open source Dart SDK and Dartium. More improvements are on the way.

"Over the following months," Bak wrote, "we will continue to work hard to evolve the SDK, improve Dart’s robustness and performance, and fine-tune the language while maintaining backwards compatibility."

 

Michelle Vieth get more