And without mentioning Dart directly, they called for evolution rather than revolution: "An approach that enables broad, incremental adoption by the Web developer community has the highest chance of success."Įven if Dart were to take off tomorrow, there still is an endless amount of JavaScript on the Web, so running it fast is important for Google's "build a faster WebĪmbition. "As the Web transitions from Web sites to Web apps, and as Web developers build new experiences in HTML5, we know that JavaScript will also need to make this transition without compromising its simplicity, flexibility, or performance," the Microsoft JavaScript team members said. In addition, Microsoft offered prototype software at its HTML5 Labs site that lets people try the technology. Those items include a handful of mathematical and numeric operations, ways to process text, and globalization technology to more easily handle different currencies and date formats. ![]() ![]() The features would build several items into JavaScript's included library that programmers today must add on their own. (For a lot more detail, check Mozilla's draft type inference paper (PDF).) Mozilla's hybrid type inference technology works by combining an analysis of JavaScript before it runs with further information gathered as the program runs. And one of Dart's high-profile features is that it supported static typing.ĭynamic typing is slower because a browser element called the just-in-time (JIT) compiler-which converts a programmer's JavaScript into the instructions a computer understands-must account for all the possible types a variable could be, said Brian Hackett, the lead type inference programmer, in a blog post. Traditional heavy-duty languages such as C or Java, though, use statically typed variables whose nature must be declared in advance by the programmer.ĭynamic typing adds flexibility, but it slows down program execution. JavaScript is dynamically typed, which means that a variable can hold any sort of information. Type inference gets to the heart of a fundamental divide between programming languages: the nature of variables that store information such as numbers or text. Such factors mean a virtuous cycle of steady improvement that makes it harder for a more revolutionary approach to gain a foothold. Programmers are familiar with it, newer browsers are remarkably faster at running it, and many libraries of pre-written software such as jQuery make powerful features easily accessible to Web developers. JavaScript has the classic benefits of an incumbent technology. In addition, Microsoft remains influential with programmers, and it just offered a very public vote of no confidence. Microsoft's stance makes it look like it'll be very hard to build that support into Internet Explorer. And allies are key: For Dart to live up to its potential, it needs support among browser makers. ![]() Five members of Microsoft's JavaScript team said the Dart sales pitch argues "JavaScript has fundamental flaws, and to support these scenarios requires a 'clean break' from JavaScript.We disagree with this point of view."ĭart got off to a rough start, with Google alienating some potential allies with an insular early-stage development process.
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