HISTORY OF DEV

October 10, 2011

Dart language unveiled at GOTO

Google unveiled Dart on October 10, 2011 at GOTO Aarhus — a structured web language compiling to JavaScript or a VM.

What it was for

Dart (programming language)Dart targets Flutter mobile/desktop apps, web via dart2js, and server-side tooling. Optional typing, sound null safety (2.0), and async/await made it Google's answer to large-scale client code. Flutter's widget framework made Dart the language behind many cross-platform apps.

Companies

  • Google

Why it's here

Dart + Flutter became Google's cross-platform UIUser interface — the parts of software people see and interact with. stack rivaling ReactA JavaScript library for building UIs — component trees and declarative rendering for the web. Native.

Why it mattered

It showed a language could target both JS engines and a native VM for structured large web apps.

What it solved

JavaScript lacked optional types and tooling for million-line web clients; Google wanted a structured alternative.

Media

  • Dart (programming language)
    ImageDart (programming language)

    Google, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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