Google's Dart Programming Language Returns With A Different Strategy, But The Same Target

Dart logo

Google Dart was created, and was meant to take on JavaScript as the default language of the web. The programming language was ready as it was, and Google was even going to give it an equal position along with JavaScript in its Chrome web browser.

At first, Dart was ready and at its prime, but needed to compete with JavaScript that was already at its peak. JavaScript has a massive ecosystem built around it, and has powered many parts of modern websites on the internet.

JavaScript was just miles ahead and Google gave up.

Then Google changed its mind by making the Dart programming language a compile-to-JavaScript language. But things then went silent; Dart didn't surface - Google seemed to abandoned the idea.

In October 2016, Google is hosting a Dart developer conference in Munich, marking Dart's return to the spotlight. What's revealed is that Google didn't forget about the project and continued to develop the programming language inside its company.

And it has been a huge success.

Read more: Google Introduces Dart With the Ultimate Goal to Replace JavaScript

Darts targeting JavaScript

Dart's initial aim to be a direct competitor to JavaScript was too ambitious. This was admitted by Dart's co-founder Kasper Lund. He said that it was difficult to follow the speed JavaScript was growing, and to target the entire web at the same time by building out a Dart runtime inside Chrome browser.

However, during its quiet development at Google, the team did experience success with the programming language and its tools without having to use a runtime. The reason for this is because the team had already built a Dart-to-JavaScript compiler to make sure that Dart could also run outside of Chrome.

Realizing that, the team shifted focus away from developing a runtime to develop the Dart-to-JavaScript compiler instead, including the tools that support it. The team also realized that this was a good thing because having both Dart and JavaScript runtime to run in Chrome at the same time can actually make them harder to interact.

Because the team has eliminated all Dart's dependencies, it can now work more easily with third-party tools. One of which the team has been focusing on, is Angular (AngularDart 2.0), Google's own framework for building websites and mobile apps.

Given Dart’s popularity inside Google, Dart is obviously not going away anytime soon. And Google that is also promising Dart's compiler to be able to compile most codes to JavaScript in less than a second, is trying hard to make it work outside by getting more developers on board.

Dart programming language

Google is already using its Dart programming language on both AdWords and AdSense, as well as on Google Fiber. The team at Google reported that Dart gave the web apps a 25 to 100 percent increase in development speed.

As a matter of fact, Dart is already the fastest growing programming language inside Google. Dart's lines of codes written by Google's developers has increased by more than 3 times over the course of one year.

Outside Google, there are already some companies that have been using Dart for a while to develop their products, and there are also communities outside Google that are discussing it.

So what Google is trying to say is: Dart is not dead.