The Introduction to Programming with Dart: A Future of Real Cross Platform Development

About:

Dart is open source, platform independent, object oriented, and versatile programming language that is widely used to create cross-platform mobile applications, web and desktop applications, and internet of things (IOT) by using its famous framework called Flutter.

It is optimized for developing modern apps with beautiful user interface and nice user experience, and it gives close to native performance in mobile app development. Its syntax is similar to JavaScript, and easy to learn for developers who already to know programming languages like Java, C, and C++ etc.

It must not be assumed that only developers with previous programming experience can learn it. It is way easier compared to Java or C in terms of syntax, making it more readable and a wise choice for newcomers considering its vast and growing community and job market.

How it Works Behind the Scenes:

Dart uses two compilation techniques. First is called Just in Time (JIT) that is used for development phase, and other is called Ahead of Time (AOT) that is developed for production or deployment phase.

Dart uses JIT during mobile apps development phase along with Dart Virtual Maching (DVM) to make development phase efficient and more productive. It uses Dart Development Compiler (DartDevC) in making of web applications.

However, AOT compilation technique is used in production phase that allows apps to work fast, and with optimized performance in the real time. It converts the dart code into native code that’s why flutter is famous for close to native performance in mobile app development.

In web app production dart uses its Dart to JavaScript (Dart2JS) compiler that converts the dart code into optimized JavaScript code and allows the dart code run on all web browsers efficiently.

History:

Dart was first time introduced in GOTO conference in oct, 2011 at Aarhus city of Denmark. It was initially designed by Lars bark, and Kespar, and developed by Google. Its first version was released in Nov, 2013. Dart got famous after Google released flutter framework. It comes with BSD license, and was approved by European Computer Manufacturer Association) ECMA International in 2014 at its 107th General Assembly.

The second version of dart was released in Aug, 2018 and it got famous since then. The current stable version of dart is 3.6.1 to be exact as of 16th Jan, 2025.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is the powerful, and versatile framework of Dart that is primarily used to create android, and IOS mobile apps with a single codebase, reducing both time and cost without compromising performance. It is also used to create web and desktop apps, games, and IOT products.

Key Features:

Dart is free to use, and open source programming language. It means any developer around the world can contribute to it. It has a hug set of libraries and packages and number developers from around the world contribute to it regularly.

It is an object-oriented programming language and everything in Dart is object.

It is used to develop android, IOS, web, and desktop apps faster with single codebase.

It is platform independent that means it runs on almost all operating systems like windows, MacOS, and Linux etc.

It compiles either into native or JavaScript code.

It can also be used to create servers and backend.

Code Editors:

You can use code editor of your choice. Most people use VS Code and Android Studio. You can also use Dartpad if you want to work online. IntelliJ and Eclipse can also be used. You can see flutter official documentation for more specific and update information in this matter.