Google Dash/Dart, Go, a Cloud IDE „Brightly“ and the future of Javascript

Since a few days an embellished (?) Mail from Google buzz through the Internet and it includes some interesting Details about the future of Javascript. Also it includes an announcement for the presentation of the new language Dart on GOTO which is going to start at the 10th of October.

The Problems of Javascript

In the opinion of Google (and some others) Javascript offers many problems. For example there are some Performance problems but also there are some problems with the new tooling for big projects.

Improve Javascript or try a new beginning?

For Google there are two possible Options: Improve the already existing Javascript implementation slowly which would probably take a lot of time or create a new type of language for the Web: Dart (in the Mail it is still called Dash)

Googles efforts in the Javascript environment

In the Mail it was accented, that Google is still going to support ECMAScripts (especially the next step Harmony). Dart should be possible to compile to Javascript so that older Browsers are going to support it as well.

Googles aims

With Dart Google tries to create a new and open Standard which will be able to solve the Problems of Javascript:

Dash is designed with three perspectives in mind:

– Performance — Dash is designed with performance characteristics in
mind, so that it is possible to create VMs that do not have the performance
problems that all EcmaScript VMs must have.
– Developer Usability — Dash is designed to keep the dynamic,
easy-to-get-started, no-compile nature of Javascript that has made the web
platform the clear winner for hobbyist developers.
– Ability to be Tooled — Dash is designed to be more easily tooled (e.g.
with optional types) for large-scale projects that require
code-comprehension features such as refactoring and finding callsites.
Dash, however, does not require tooling to be effective–small-scale
developers may still be satisfied with a text editor.

The big Aim

The goal of the Dash effort is ultimately to replace JavaScript as the
lingua franca of web development on the open web platform.

Googles other Tools

There are already some Google Tools in the Javascript environment (GWT / JSCompiler) and it’s planned to send them in the direction of Dart as soon as possible.

Dash Clientsided & Serversided

Dart is meant to become the “Front-End” language in the World of Google which is able to be achieved from the Client but also from the Server (assumedly it goes in the direction of Node.js)

Will Dash run on the Server?  Android?
Yes, but short term we are focused on the client.

What happens with GO?

Go is a very promising systems-programming language in the vein of C++.  We
fully hope and expect that Go becomes the standard back-end language at
Google over the next few years.   Dash is focused on client (and eventually
Front-end server development).  The needs there are different (flexibility
vs. stability) and therefore a different programming language is warranted.

Googles IDE “Brightly” – a Dart application?

It seems like Google is using a Cloud IDE intern which is going to support Dart and is written in the language – if we are going to see this IDE someday is not sure at all:

How does this affect our cloud IDE (Brightly)?
Brightly will enable building any web application in V1 using today’s
Javascript plus the additions in Harmony.  As soon as it is ready, Brightly
will support Dash as well.  We expect that the more prescriptive development
aspects of Brightly that will come on line in the future will be more Dash
focused.

We expect Brightly itself to be the first application written in Dash.

All in all: existing

I’m excited what Google is going to create here and if they are able to assure the other Browserprovider to go along with them (especially since Microsoft falls in love with Javascript )

Another interesting fact: One of the authors of the mail and the document about Dart is Brad Abrams who was the leader of Microsofts Silverlight Team about a year ago.

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