Dart 1.0: A stable SDK for structured web apps
By Lars Bak, Software Engineer and Chief Dartisan
Today we’re releasing the Dart SDK 1.0, a cross-browser, open source toolkit for structured
web applications. In the two years since we first
announced
Dart, we’ve been working closely with early adopters to mature the project and grow
the community. This release marks Dart's transition to a production-ready option for web
developers.
The Dart SDK 1.0 includes everything you need to write structured web applications: a simple
yet powerful programming language, robust tools, and comprehensive core libraries. Together,
these pieces can help make your development workflow simpler, faster, and more scalable as
your projects grow from a few scripts to full-fledged web applications.
On the tools side, the SDK includes
Dart Editor, a lightweight but
powerful Dart development environment. We wanted to give developers the tools to manage a
growing code base, so we added code completion, refactoring, jump to definition, a debugger,
hints and warnings, and lots more. Dart also offers an instant edit/refresh cycle with
Dartium, a custom version of
Chromium with the native Dart VM. Outside the browser, the Dart VM can also be used for
asynchronous server side computation.
For deployment, dart2js is a translator that allows your Dart code to run in
modern
browsers. The performance of generated JavaScript has improved dramatically since
our initial release and is in many cases getting close to that of idiomatic JavaScript. In
fact, the dart2js output of the
DeltaBlue benchmark now runs even
faster than idiomatic JavaScript. Similarly, dart2js output code size has been reduced
substantially. The generated JavaScript for the game
Pop, Pop, Win! is now
40%
smaller than it was a year ago. Performance of the VM continues to improve as well;
it’s now between 42% to 130% faster than idiomatic JavaScript running in V8, depending on the
benchmark.
 |
| DeltaBlue benchmark
results |
The Dart SDK also features the
Pub package
manager, with more than 500 packages from the community. Fan favorites include
AngularDart and
polymer.dart, which provide
higher-level frameworks for building web apps. Dart developers can continue using their
favorite JavaScript libraries with
Dart-JavaScript
interop.
Going forward, the Dart team will focus on improving Dartium, increasing Dart performance, and
ensuring the platform remains rock solid. In particular, changes to core technologies will be
backward-compatible for the foreseeable future.
Today’s release marks the first time Dart is officially production-ready, and we’re seeing
teams like
Blossom,
Montage,
Soundtrap,
Mandrill, Google's internal
CRM
app and
Google
Elections, already successfully using Dart in production. In addition, companies
like
Adobe,
drone.io, and
JetBrains have started to add Dart
support to their products.
To get started, head over to
dartlang.org
and join the conversation at our
Dartisans community on
Google+. We’re excited to see what you will build with the new stable
Dart SDK 1.0.
Lars Bak is a veteran virtual machinist, leaving marks on several software systems:
Beta, Self, Strongtalk, HotSpot, CLDC HI, OOVM Smalltalk, and V8.
Posted by Scott Knaster,
Editor
