Learning Dart Language

Introduction

Learning Dart isn't a smooth ride when the documentation doesn't share much information or technically put, we are yet to understand the log printed.

Why learn Dart?

Currently Dart is learned for only one admittable reason, to develop applications using Flutter which is a "single code base" for Developing both Andriod and IOS application. If you are new to the Flutter Development which is very easy to do. Then the only thing that might become an hurdle is your less to No knowledge in Dart.

So, to get started in Flutter, you have to learn Dart.

What is Dart, to which i can compare it to?

Dart is an Runtime, Programming Language which is based on Object Oriented Concepts. Google felt Javascript is fundamentally flawed and believed a new programming language could solve the problems that javascript couldn't at that point of time. Google packaged Dart Runtime in Chrome Browser and made it available to be executed in the Browser directly as a Alternative to Javascript as how VBScript was used in the earlier days.

For Dart Web application to run in all the browsers, all the other Browser Vendors should also package Dart runtime, which never happened. Until the release of Dart 2.0(which is a major rewrite compared to its earlier Version), Developers used a custom build of Chromium Browser which is called Dartium for Development and the release version of the web application is transpiled to Javascript.

With Dart 2.0, This is not the case. Today, we use Chrome browser(doesn't contain Dart) for Development and release can be transpiled to Javascript, which will work in all Browser. What you are thinking is right, the development, debug can be done & will work only in the Chromium based Browsers. However, I have never tried development based on Opera, so it could be just Chrome.

To answer the question to which i can compare it to?, I think NodeJS is the right one to compare with.

Why NodeJS?

Java is a runtime, so does the NodeJS. Why I believe that NodeJS can be compared to the Dart is because of the similarities between them. You might feel that Dart has better handled some of the problems that, has a Javascript Developer we might have faced in Javascript and NodeJS.

Lets look into some of the comparables in both

Comparables	NodeJS	Dart
Single Threaded	Yes	Yes, but supports isolate, which is used in projects like Aqueduct
Packages	Tools developed are distributed as Packages, a Package can added as dependency or dev_dependency and used inside another package	Dart itself is a collection of packages, dart:html, dart:io, dart:async are the core packages of dart. both dependencies and dev_dependencies specification are available in Dart
Package specification file	package.json file contains all the information relating to the Project, this is not limited to Name, description, license but also list the dependencies and dev_dependencies. scripts contains the list of scripts that can be executed using the npm run command. npm init helps you in generating a simple NodeJS project with package.json file.	Dart uses pubspec.yaml, there is no scripts support. pub run is used instead.
Package Manager	npm or yarn. npm is bundled in NodeJS	pub is bundled in Dart and handles everything related to packages. pub get & pub global activate are the 2 commands used predominantly. Former for installing packages locally and later is for global.
packages download path	Global packages are store in the npm or yarn folder, whereas packages dependencies are store inside node_modules folder of the current package.	pub doesn't store the packages in the package folder, instead store .packages file, which contains all package dependencies along with the global pub cache path where it is available.
package lock	package-lock.json or yarn.lock handles locking of version of dependency packages.	pubspec.lock does the same job.

Scaffold a basic "Hello world" application

Use Stagehand package for scaffolding an basic dart application.

If your needs are different from the template list supported by Stagehand then you may have to search the pub site. I have listed some of them that I know & remember.

1. flutter create - flutter provides the CLI tool for scaffolding an flutter application. use fluttter doctor to check whether your development environment supports development of Android and IOS.

2. aqueduct create - aqueduct provide the CLI tool for scaffolding an Aqueduct based Web Server that can connect with Postgresql DB.

3. angular_cli provides option to create Component, pipe, service for an AngularDart application which is scaffolded by using Stagehand.

4. use monorepo package to hold all the different types of Dart applications in a single Repo.

Focus of this learning guide

If you have come to this page looking for some flutter related guide then let me tell you, I at this point of time feel that the documentation provided by Flutter Team is way better than other learning content available online. However, You will be able to find some useful information about other learning guides, blogs & youtube videos available along with the most common issues faced while working with flutter.

So ruling out Flutter, what's left are the Server/Command-line and Dart for web. Firstly, I will start with AngularDart which provides the same Angular2 Framework we are familiar with in the Type(Java)script Ecosystem. Then as and when required, I will provide guide for the Aqueduct Web Server Framework which I personally use as middleware for persisting Data from Angular to Postgresql(only supported RDMBS by Aqueduct).

What next? How to proceed from here?

I always prefer the unorthodox approach for learning, why? is a different story altogether. By being unorthodox, I am trying to breaking the conventional approach of starting with "Introduction" then to "Table of Content" to each Detailed description about each major topic in the table of content. If you are going in this fashion, you will be able to create a full pledge Application only when you complete the last pages of Appendics.

I will be starting from the content that are traditionally considered to be placed in the appendix and move on create an application with all favours like Routing, Authentication and progress with complex requirements that raises on top of the "one liner" requirement for which we will be developing the application.

In short, This guide will be my experience learning Dart the hardest way possible.