Marvin Lee Dot Net

What is Dart?
Dart is an open-source Web programming language developed by Google, a language that has it’s own virtual machine and to be compiled into Javascript for performance benefits.
Dart can also run in its own VM within its own browser, the Dartium without compilation to Javascript.

That sounds a lot like Google Web Toolkit (GWT) isn’t it?
That’s half similarity, in that the GWT is written in Java to Javascript, while Dart itself is its own language to be compiled to Javascript.

So why use Dart?
There are a few advantages:

1. Dart is easy to learn
2. Dart compiles to JavaScript
3. Dart runs in the client and on the server
4. Dart comes with a lightweight editor
5. Dart supports types, without requiring them
6. Dart scales from small scripts to large, complex apps
7. Dart has a wide array of built-in libraries

How does the code looks like?
Notice how easy it is to define the getter and setter methods.

class Rectangle {
num left;
num top;
num width;
num height;
Rectangle(this.left, this.top, this.width, this.height);
// Define two calculated properties: right and bottom.
num get right => left + width;
set right(num value) => left = value – width;
num get bottom => top + height;
set bottom(num value) => top = value – height;
}

Dart: Up and Running is written by Kathy Walrath, Seth Ladd both Googlers who are developer advocates.

What’s better than getting a book directly from the source?
Answer: The Dart book directly from Google advocates that is.

Following is the table of content of this book.

Chapter 1 Quick Start
Why Google Created Dart
A Quick Look at the Dart Language
What’s Cool About Dart
Up and Running
Chapter 2 A Tour of the Dart Language
A Basic Dart Program
Important Concepts
Variables
Built-in Types
Functions
Operators
Control Flow Statements
Exceptions
Classes
Generics
Libraries and Visibility
Isolates
Typedefs
Metadata
Comments
Summary
Chapter 3 A Tour of the Dart Libraries
dart:core – Numbers, Collections, Strings, and More
dart:async – Asynchronous Programming
dart:math – Math and Random
dart:html – Browser-Based Apps
dart:isolate – Concurrency with Isolates
dart:io – I/O for Command-Line Apps
dart:json – Encoding and Decoding Objects
dart:uri – Manipulating URIs
dart:utf – Strings and Unicode
dart:crypto – Hash Codes and More
Summary
Chapter 4 Tools
pub: The Dart Package Manager
Dart Editor
Dartium: Chromium with the Dart VM
dart2js: The Dart-to-JavaScript Compiler
dart: The Standalone VM
dart_analyzer: The Static Analyzer
dartdoc: The API Documentation Generator
Summary
Chapter 5 Walkthrough: Dart Chat
How to Run Dart Chat
How Dart Chat Works
The Client’s HTML Code
The Client’s Dart Code
The Server’s Code
What Next?

Conclusion
If you have decided to delve into Dart after some initial exploration, this one book is suitable for you to be up and running with Dart in a short time. It has comprehensive coverage on the language and common libraries as well as the tools needed to get things done with Dart.
While you’re done with Dart, you might even want to consider getting your hands dirty with AngularDart, another hybrid framework brings the proven Angular philosophy of testable, succinct web development to Dart.

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dart, dartlang