Welcome to the Dart programming series! By the end of this course, you'll have a solid foundation in Dart and be ready to build Flutter apps.
What is Dart?
Dart is a programming language developed by Google, primarily used to build Flutter applications. Flutter is an open-source UI framework that allows you to create cross-platform apps for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.
Many popular apps like Google Pay, Alibaba, and BMW apps are built using Flutter and Dart!
The History of Dart
2011: The Birth of Dart
Google introduced Dart as a potential replacement for JavaScript. The goal was to address several limitations:
- JavaScript was slow for large, complex web applications
- Being dynamically typed, it was prone to runtime errors
- Limited debugging tools available
- Scalability issues for large codebases
The Dartium Browser
Google created a browser called Dartium with a built-in Dart VM to run Dart code directly without transpiling to JavaScript.
This approach ultimately failed due to lack of browser vendor support from Mozilla, Apple, and Microsoft.
Dart's Comeback with Flutter
When Google decided to create Flutter, they chose Dart as its foundation. Now Dart powers one of the most popular cross-platform frameworks in the world!
Why Learn Dart?
Resources to Learn Dart
- dart.dev - Official Dart documentation with tutorials and API references
- flutter.dev - Flutter documentation (works hand-in-hand with Dart)
- DartPad - Write, run, and share Dart code directly in your browser
- No installation required - perfect for learning and experimenting!
- Dart And Flutter Series on YouTube - Comprehensive video tutorials
What's Next?
In the next lesson, we'll dive into Variables and Null Safety - the fundamental building blocks of any Dart program. You'll learn:
- How to declare and use variables
- The difference between
var,dynamic,final, andconst - What null safety is and why it matters
Ready to start coding? Let's move on to the next lesson!