Google Builds Dart Programming Language, into Chrome
Google’s undying desire is to make the web easier to build. The more site and services are out there, after all, the more useful Google is. Its to this end that Google released the Dart programming language last year. Meant to simplify web coding into something slightly easier to deal with, Dart had one fundamental flaw: in order to use it, you had to compile your code back into Javascript.
Until now. Google has decided to make the move of embedding a Dart virtual machine, running natively instead of through Javascript, into its Chrome browser. This is a big move for the fledgling language, and it could meant that Dart get adopted much, much more quickly.
Right now the virtual machine is merely a technical preview, meaning that its nowhere near ready for consumers. And the Chrome build that includes it is not official, but a branch nicknamed “Dartium.” Still, though, this is a good thing for web developers. It shows that Google is committed to simplifying the web coding experience.
For back compatibility, Google has included a Dart to Javascript compiler, so that you can write a page in Dart but have it run on non-Dart browsers. At the moment, this is the only realistic way to code in Dart, and it means that all browsers receive a performance hit, when they do the interpretation.
Still, if you want to give an interesting new language a try, one that might start gobbling up marketshare in a few years, Dart is a fun, easy to understand language that more closely resembles C than Javascript.
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