Google is trying to get developers interested in Dart with a technology preview of the Dart VM in Chromium, better known as Dartium. The plan is ultimately to include the Dart VM in Chrome itself, but no timeline has been given yet for that.
Google has been pushing pretty hard to move Dart forward. The company released a Rosetta Stone for JavaScript programmerscalled Dart Synonym at the beginning of February. However, developers have had to compile Dartium from source or find unofficial builds to test the code.
Now it’s much easier to get ahold of a browser with the Dart VM. If you’re using Linux or Mac OS X, you can download Dartium today. Windows builds are not available yet, but should be available “soon.”
Google does warn that Dartium “should not be used for day-to-day browsing” but says that the Dart VM integration will come to Chrome “after more testing and developer feedback.”
If you’re interested in trying out Dart and Dartium, be sure to read over the intro and language basics pages. The language basics page also has an embedded app to run Dart code directly in the browser. You can also grab the Dart Editor for LinuxWindows or Mac OS X.
Note that Google says that the Dartium binary “will expire after a few days” so you’ll be needing to grab a new copy from time to time. Working with Dart? What do you think of the language and tools so far? Should developers be focusing on Dart or sticking with JavaScript?
