What is Dart? Getting to Know the Dart Programming Language

What is dart? That question often arises when first learning about Flutter. Flutter is built using a programming language called DART, so the syntax in Flutter will also use DART syntax. So what is DART and why should you learn it?

DART is a programming language developed by Google since 2007, led by Lars Bak and Kasper Lund, which focuses on optimizing the client side. It is not only used for developing mobile applications, but DART can also be used to develop various types of applications such as web, micro services, desktop, and other applications that use Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

DART is an object-oriented programming language with syntax similar to C++, Java, and JavaScript. So if you have ever learned Java or JavaScript, learning DART should be easier.

Why Learn Dart?

As we know, Flutter is built using Dart. Thanks to Dart, Flutter is currently the fastest cross-platform framework with performance like native. Why? Because Dart supports many architectures such as IA-32, X64, MIPS, ARMv5TE, ARMv6, ARMv7, and the ARM64 architecture. With this ability, it supports native mobile application development for both Android and iOS platforms.

Dart is also a dynamic programming language. The Dart VM offers the ability to run code directly without the need to compile it first. This programming language can also be used directly in the Chrome browser without the need to compile it.

Purpose of Dart Lang

Dart comes with a big purpose. According to its official website, Dart has an ambitious long-term goal:

• Dart is supported by many other libraries and tools that allow you to create applications on a very large scale.
• Simplify programming tasks. Dart is designed to make programming activities simpler.
• Dart is a very stable programming language, ready to be used to build a real (production) application product. Scalable

Dart can be run in four different ways:

• With the help of dart2js, Dart can be compiled into JavaScript, so Dart also supports web programming and all modern browsers.
• The Dart SDK also includes the Dart VM and this is standalone execution. With this, Dart can also be run through the terminal or CMD. And it has a powerful package manager called “pub”.
• Just for information, the dart pub package manager is like npm in nodejs, apt-get in ubuntu, composer in PHP The Dart syntax can be run in another mode through the Dartium browser. This is a special Chromium web browser that includes the Dart VM. Because this browser has direct support for Dart code, it does not need to be changed to JavaScript. Cool..!!!
• Dart can also be run in AOT mode. AOT stands for Ahead-Of-Time compilation. In this mode, Dart code can be directly converted to native code. This AOT mode is what Dart uses in Flutter.

DartPad

If you want to try writing a Dart program without any installation or configuration, DartPad is the right choice. The DartPad interface is also very simple and clear.

With dartpad, you can try running dart syntax online.

Dart is one of the Fastest Programming Languages

Although Dart is indeed focused on client-side performance as stated on its website “Dart is a client-optimized language for fast apps on any platform”, Dart can also be used as a micro service.

so what next? just learn dart!