Getting started with dart
Learning a new programming language is a piece of cake if you are an experienced developer whereas it might be scary and daunting if you are just getting started.
Hello guys, this is CodingWithTashi and in this shitty post, we are going to discuss Dart and see how you can get started. At the end of the post, I will also share my new eBook “Dart in a nutshell”.
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I encourage you to read this lame post even if you are experienced because why not? It is always a good thing to brush up on your knowledge and see what new you can learn from this post.
Note: I will not be discussing on what are the data types? oops concept etc. Because at the end of this post I have provided link to my E-Book (Dart in a nutshell) and other resources where you can learn dart from scratch.
All right let’s start with a little bit of introduction on dart language.
What is Dart?
- Dart is an object-oriented, class-based, garbage-collected language with C-style syntax.[10] It can compile to either native code or JavaScript
- It is developed by Google and can also be used to build mobiles, desktops, and server applications.
- Dart is a fairly new language compared to Java and JavaScript and It is commonly used in flutter applications.
What dart can do?
- Building mobile, web, and desktop applications with a single codebase with a framework or UI toolkit such as flutter.
- Flutter
I don’t think I need to explain this, probably you are reading this post since you already knew what flutter is.
We all know what a dart is capable of when it comes to flutter. I have written more about it in the E-book.
2. Building Server-side application
Yes, Dart can also be used in server applications as well. That means you can write both client and server applications with a single programming language.
Here are some frameworks that can be used to build server applications.
Unfortunately, both frameworks have been discontinued.
You can also use gRPC for building dart server applications as well.
For more about gRPC, you can watch this course.
If you are still not satisfied with these frameworks, you can create a dart server application without using any framework at all.
If you are interested, check out this post from Suragch(By the way great developer).
Now that we know what dart is capable of, Let's discuss some of the resources where you can learn dart from the ground up.
Why should you learn dart?
Yes, you are right, flutter uses dart. But hey It is not the only reason to choose to use dart. Here are some key features why you should stick with dart.
- Easy to learn
You heard that right, learning dart is damn easy especially if you are coming from java or any other object-oriented programming.
- Dart uses AOT and JIT Compilation
Dart uses ahead-of-time compilation as well as JIT compilation.
You might not be familiar with these terms, but yes because of this you are able to have a hot reload and restart in your flutter application.
- Dart is ideal for Reactive Programming
Dart is an ideal language for reactive programming. It deals with data streams that are responsible for every change in a program.
- It also supports asynchronous programming
I wrote a similar post on why flutter chooses to use dart as well. You can read it if you are interested.
Hui!! Almost there. Let's discuss what are some good resources where you can learn dart.
Where can you learn dart?
- I have created a complete E-book of 36 pages which explains dart in a nutshell. You can download it from here.
- Dart has good documentation, so if you are interested you can always refer to the documentation. Especially read language tour (It is concise and short)
- If you prefer to watch videos, then check out this YouTube tutorial from Derek.
I encourage you to learn dart even if you are experienced developer because there are things like factory, named constructor, isolate etc which only dart support.
Alright with that said, if any of my shitty posts help you in any way. Make sure to follow me and leave some engagement. ✌
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