Dart (programming language)
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| Dart (programming language) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dart |
| Designer | |
| First release | 2011 |
| Typing | Static, dynamic (optional) |
| License | BSD-style |
| Website | dart.dev |
Dart (programming language) is a general-purpose, class-based, garbage-collected programming language developed by Google for client-optimized development of user interfaces and scalable applications. It emphasizes a combination of ahead-of-time compilation and just-in-time execution to support high-performance web, mobile, and server workloads, with tooling intended to interoperate with Chromium, Android, iOS, and cloud platforms such as Google Cloud Platform. The language and its runtime have evolved through contributions and feedback from developers associated with organizations like Mozilla Foundation, Intel, Microsoft, and institutions participating in web standards discussions.
History
Dart's inception was announced by Google engineers in 2011 as a successor to JavaScript for large-scale application development and was described in the context of web platform evolution alongside projects at Google Chrome and initiatives like the V8 project. Early design and roadmap discussions involved engineers formerly affiliated with Sun Microsystems and Oracle Corporation who had experience from projects such as Java and GraalVM. The language's standardization path initially contemplated formal standards bodies similar to work by Ecma International and drew comparisons with languages designed at Sun Microsystems such as Java and initiatives at Mozilla Foundation like Rust. Over time, the project pivoted to pragmatic adoption through tools like the Dart VM and the Flutter UI toolkit developed within Google's engineering organizations, influencing partnerships with companies such as Canonical and Samsung for platform support.
Design and Features
Dart's type system supports optional static typing influenced by language designs from Oak and the gradual typing ideas seen in projects at Microsoft Research and University of Cambridge. It employs a single-inheritance, class-based object model with mixins and interfaces reflecting concepts from Smalltalk, C++, and Java. Concurrency is modeled with isolated event loops and message passing reminiscent of approaches from Erlang and actor models used at Racket research, while asynchronous programming uses futures and streams comparable to patterns from C# and JavaScript's Promise APIs developed at Netscape Communications Corporation and later by the TC39 committee. The language's tooling supports ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation to native code similar to techniques used in GraalVM and just-in-time (JIT) compilation used in engines like V8 and SpiderMonkey, enabling performance characteristics important to projects at Apple and Intel. Dart's package manager, inspired by ecosystems such as CPAN and npm, supports modularization and dependency management used by enterprise teams at IBM and startups incubated in accelerators like Y Combinator.
Tooling and Ecosystem
Dart's development ecosystem centers on tools developed by teams formerly collaborating with Google's developer relations groups and integrates with IDEs from vendors like JetBrains and projects at Microsoft including Visual Studio Code. The language server implementation interacts with editor protocols derived from specifications by Language Server Protocol contributors with input from companies such as Red Hat and Facebook. The package ecosystem, hosted on the central repository maintained by Dart project maintainers, mirrors operational models found in RubyGems and Maven Central and is used by enterprises partnered with Accenture and academic projects at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for teaching. Continuous integration and testing workflows commonly integrate with services from Travis CI, GitHub Actions, and CircleCI, enabling deployments to cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Implementations and Platforms
Primary implementations include the reference virtual machine created within Google's systems engineering groups and AOT compilers producing native code for platforms such as ARM and x86 architectures produced by companies like Qualcomm and Intel. Web compilation targets use an output strategy compatible with browsers built on Chromium and engines like WebKit used by Apple, producing JavaScript or WebAssembly artifacts comparable to outputs from projects at Mozilla Foundation. Mobile integration is exemplified by the Flutter engine embedding Dart runtimes within apps on Android and iOS, with OEM collaborations involving firms such as Samsung and Huawei to optimize performance on proprietary platforms. Server-side deployments run Dart executables on container orchestration systems influenced by designs from Kubernetes and infrastructure patterns advocated by organizations like Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
Use Cases and Adoption
Dart finds adoption across UI-centric applications developed by in-house teams at Google and startups funded by firms like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. It is used in consumer-facing mobile apps, progressive web apps targeting Chromium browsers, and backend microservices integrated into platforms curated by companies such as Stripe and Shopify. Educational initiatives at universities including Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University have experimented with Dart for teaching reactive UI patterns, and design studios associated with IDEO and media organizations such as The New York Times have prototyped interactive experiences using Dart-based toolchains.
Community and Governance
The project's governance is led by teams within Google with contributions from external maintainers and corporate partners such as Microsoft and Intel, following collaborative models similar to governance structures at Kubernetes and Rust. Community events include meetups organized by chapters associated with Meetup (service), conferences where speakers from ACM and IEEE present case studies, and hackathons sponsored by accelerators like Techstars. Documentation and specification work involve contributors from research groups at University of Oxford and industry labs at Bell Labs-era organizations, while security and interoperability discussions engage stakeholders from W3C and standards-oriented consortia.