While Google may need this for building large applications, this is something that the web could do without.<p>The web needs a standard Intermediate Language: a machine code. This is what Javascript is becoming and it isn't well designed for it.
While looking through the sample code I found this gem:<p>static bool isVm() {
return 1234567890123456789 % 2 > 0;
}<p>Funny enough in javascript 1234567890123456789 % 2 == 0.
No IDE support, no VM in Chrome yet, also no support for calling existing javascript libraries. These three things guarantee no quick adoption. I have no idea what Google is thinking.
More discussion: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3092558" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3092558</a> (it happens to be the top link also)
I was expecting something more innovative.<p>All it is is a javascript like language with classes, interfaces, optional types, and some extra built in data structures. A new runtime, biggest obstacle being adoption, just for that seems a bit much.
The optionally static types in the Dart language seems like a good idea. You get both beautiful, simple code, like in Ruby, and the possibility to speed up execution by adding types later.<p>On the other hand, you still don't have the great community like for instance ruby has. Charles Nutter has created a static typed ruby like language, called Mirah, which looks similar.
One of the design goals: "Ensure that Dart delivers high performance on all modern web browsers and environments ranging from small handheld devices to server-side execution."<p>Server-side execution? I thought Go was their systems programming language? It sure sounds like they're competing rather than complementing each other.
This is a great idea. With optional typing + V8 this could be really fast. Google can leverage its strengths while opening up a language that lots of people already know to additional server side use.
Unless all major browsers support it, the adoption will be painful and slow.<p>It also seems like another incarnation of GWT, which, I heard, google abandoned.