A technology preview version of Google's browser lets
programmers try Dart, Google's attempt to improve on
JavaScript's shortcomings.
Google today made Mac and Linux binaries available that
integrate the Dart VM into Chromium.
"This technology preview allows you to run your Dart programs
directly on the Dart VM in Chromium and avoid a separate
compilation step. Over time, these programs will take
advantage of the VM's faster performance and lower startup
latency," said Google programmers Anton Muhin, Vijay Menon,
and Pavel Podivilov, in a blog post.
Dart has been designed from the start to work with the entire
modern web, and Google is simultaneously continuing to improve
its Dart-to-JavaScript compiler. Both the Dart VM and modern
JavaScript engines are first-class targets for Dart.
This release of Chromium with Dart VM integration is a
technology preview, and should not be used for day-to-day
browsing. After more testing and developer feedback, Google
plans to eventually include the Dart VM in Chrome.
"Today's release of the Chromium + Dart VM integration is
another step forward for the open source "batteries included"
Dart platform. Our goal is to help you build complex, high
performance apps for the modern web," Google programmers
added.
Google developed Dart as a way to improve Web programming, for
example with better performance and with a language it thinks
is better suited to large-scale Web applications.