6 Dart FAQs - Answered!

Calvin Prewitt wrote some good questions about Dart via G+. It might be hard to find his questions and my answers, so I hoisted them here. Enjoy!

Q) Could you also detail compatibility and which JavaScript APIs are fully or partially supported for Dart2JS production code?

A) All JavaScript APIs supported by Chrome should be available to Dart. See http://www.dartlang.org/articles/improving-the-dom/



Q) It appears Dart is aiming to eventually replace it? The FAQ says it only targets modern browser versions.

A) Dart's aim is to give developers like you a very productive experience, and give your users a very fast experience. Dart targets IE9+, plus the modern versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, mobile safari, and Chrome for Android. Basically, modern browsers.



Q) Is there a way to have fine grained control over the JS code like in Closure?

A) Dart2js can emit a single file, plus up to one other lazily loaded library. In the future, we want to give you more control. Here's the bug: https://code.google.com/p/dart/issues/detail?id=10023 Please note, dart2js's output is already smaller thanks to tree-shaking.



Q) I've noticed a lot of similarities to Closure Library. Has some or all of the Closure Library code been ported?

A) I'm unaware of an "official" port from the closure libraries. In general, though, you shouldn't need it. Dart's core libraries are pretty comprehensive. Check out http://api.dartlang.org



Q) Is Dart ready for production use? Specifically for generating JS code. If not, what's missing or where are the sore spots?

A) Dart's M4 release just came out, promising no more breaking changes to the core libs. Hurray! There's still work to do, but the platform just got much more stable. If you see something missing, let us know: http://dartbug.com/new



Q) Finally, where can I help? Closure is nowhere near a productive environment. If Dart is aiming to make building complex web apps easier than working with Closure, I'd like to contribute to that goal.

A) Yes, we're "aiming to hit a productivity and performance bullseye" (groan :) We'd love help. Dart is open source, so check out http://dartbug.com/ and out Github presence athttp://github.com/dart-lang Join our Dartisans community in G+, too

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